Alex Redding: Final Location
by Freelancer Josiah
Summary: When a 'sister location' to Freddy Fazbear's is revealed to Alex Redding, he sees the one chance he has to save his friends and lover - and the possibility of intact Fazbear endoskeletons is too much for him to resist. Unfortunately, the location is also the hideout of the malevolent genius that began it all... William Afton.
1. Prologue: The Descent

Well, it wouldn't be me if I didn't take forever on these things. But at long last, here it is. The final story in the Alex Redding series - Final Location. I'm going to be trying to do an update for this at least once every few weeks - I have a lot of other projects and ideas in mind, as well as other ventures I want to delve into.

I'm finally giving my novel a full once-over and cleaning it up; my goal is to have it published by June. I'm also expanding into other ventures, but you can find out more about them on my new blog - Josiah's Journal. (Yes, I'm bad at names.) It's a free Wordpress blog but hey, I'm broke. XD

I'm going to be posting my thoughts on games, writing, and such on there regularly. I might also post the occasional excerpt from whatever project I happen to be working on. My first blog post is going to be talking about the different ventures I'm planning to start on, so if you care to hear me babble feel free to check it out:

Josiahsjournal dot wordpress dot com is the place to be if you want to keep up with the latest on whatever comes to my mind. Whether you're a long-time fan since Battle for the Pizzeria, or just found me today, feel free to check it out!

Anyway, I've rambled and blathered on far longer than I normally should. On with the show!

* * *

 **Sister Location Elevator**

 **Alex Redding**

The elevator hummed silently to itself as it descended down the shaft. When my friend Joseph Adams and I first climbed aboard it had started what seemed like a training tape of sorts. We'd been told that it would recognize us as 'new technicians', and Adams had been perfectly fine with letting the tapes play out.

But I'd had more than enough of the numerous voices that Fazbear Entertainment had taken on and had summarily introduced the butt of my rifle to the speaker a few times to shut it up. This had earned me a glare but I didn't care. I had more than enough on my mind, I didn't need that infernal voice speaking up again.

" **You know I can hear you, right? Just because I'm bored doesn't mean you have to have an attitude..."** And speaking of infernal voices, there was Nightmare once more, speaking up and making his presence known. I shook my head and sighed mentally, knowing it wouldn't stop bothering me until this was all over and dealt with. I already had a few minor plans on how to at least keep him under control once this was over, but I needed him in fighting condition just in case.

It had been roughly two months since I'd woken up in the hospital. Physical therapy had been an absolute pain in the neck but it had me in about as good condition as I could expect, considering my numerous near-death experiences and time spent completely dead to the world. The doctors had tried to talk me into letting some other group handle this, but this job was personal.

From what Faz had told me, William Afton – the mastermind that had started the entire Fazbear nightmare – was holed up down here with what they called the "Funtime" animatronics. I wasn't sure what his plans were for them, but I knew it wasn't anything good. Having two months to pore over the paperwork had convinced me of one thing for sure, though. This guy was a psychopath. As it turned out, every last one of the Fazbear Entertainment animatronics from the very beginning had been engineered with the capability to kill, from Fredbear on through to the Ringleader models.

Looking into all this had given local law enforcement an absolute field day, and they'd been busy for weeks wrapping up and rounding up virtually everyone from Fazbear Entertainment and throwing them behind bars. I knew at least a few executives were getting life sentences, and I had a feeling that the mastermind would be getting a death penalty for what he'd done.

" **Especially if you let me get my claws into him. I can make him suffer, Alex."** I shook my head again and Adams looked at me, tilting his head. "You okay, buddy?"

I nodded a bit. "Yeah, just nerves. Normally I'm not as beat to crap as this when I go into the belly of the beast, after all." _Shut up already. I'll let you know when I need you to come out and play,_ I mentally replied. I heard Nightmare let out an annoyed sigh before falling silent once more. I reminded myself once more that for now, I needed him...

The elevator door swung open at long last, revealing... A wall, with a vent in the very bottom. The two of us exchanged glances, before starting to crawl through, emerging in what we'd been told was the 'Primary Control Module' – a fancy term for what amounted to a computer room with windows overlooking two darkened rooms. I glanced to Adams and he set to work on one of the terminals there. We didn't plan to stick around long – we wanted to get in, grab Afton, and get out. By now he was an old man and neither of us were expecting much resistance.

Then the lights flicked on outside the two windows and I caught sight of them. Animatronics, just perfect. "Look!" I grabbed Adams, pointing outside as they seemed to activate and stare right at the windows. "The layout of this place said those were reinforced one-way glass... They're looking right at us." We stared right back, going on the defensive... Just as a voice crackled in from a speaker overhead.

" _Ah, if it isn't my uninvited guests... Alex Redding and Joseph Adams, I assume?"_ We both froze up, exchanging a nervous glance. The voice sounded like an older man. Only one person it could be. _"You two have been quite the thorn in my side over the past several years, I'll have you know. Ruining everything I've attempted to set up and even destroying both of my 'hands'!"_ The animatronics were starting to move a bit, and Adams glanced over to me. _"Well, I suppose it's all in the past. You've been quite busy, haven't you? I remember you, Alex..."_ He chuckled darkly. _"The one that got away, time after time. Well, this time you're going nowhere."_

There was a mechanical whirr, and we both turned just in time to see the lights of the elevator going back up. We started for the vent to try and get out of there, but it was no use – the shaft slammed closed. _"You're not going anywhere, my friends. This is where the road ends for you."_ We saw the animatronics stirring and beginning to move towards our hiding place, vent shafts opening to allow them in. Adams was immediately hammering on computer keys, trying to find some way to salvage the situation –

Suddenly two control panels lit up on either side of the room. "Alex! The blue keys, they're shock buttons! Let 'em have it!" I didn't need any further urging, slamming both controls. The lights outside the control room went out, replaced with the occasional blue-white arc of electricity working over the animatronics. A moment later the lights came back up and they had both returned to their stages. Adams and I exchanged a glance, just as the voice came up again.

" _Smarter than you seemed, Mr. Adams. Well, let's just see how long you can both last. Best of luck stopping me, after all – I have plans in motion already. You're welcome to try, though..."_ His laughter echoed through the facility as we exchanged another look. Adams nodded to me. "I'm better with this stuff. Let me try and work on supporting you from in here – I'll try and keep the bots off your back as best I can." He glanced at the windows. "I might be able to open these up a bit, give you some marksman cover as well."

I just nodded a bit as the hatches opened once more, crouching and glancing out at one of the rooms. It looked like once upon a time they had been used for parties, but years of disuse had them empty except for assorted boxes lining the walls, filled with junk. I hesitated for another moment before simply nodding. "Alright. Be careful in here – you're a sitting duck if Afton tries anything sneaky."

He nodded, bumping my outstretched fist before turning back to a terminal as I started crawling through one of the vents, heading for what was supposed to be the 'Ballora Gallery'. I had a sneaking suspicion in the pit of my stomach that I'd have to smash my way through even more animatronics...

" **That's what I'm here for, isn't it? You don't have the pain tolerance that I do, after all."** I could hear the lust for violence in Nightmare's voice, and I knew I'd have to let him play if I was going to survive this one. And that was before I even thought about my ultimate goal for being down here.

Somewhere in this facility were a set of four original Fazbear Entertainment endoskeletons. And Faz had the backups of the original band. My friends. I couldn't let them down, not now.

I grit my teeth as I crawled along. This was going to be a long night...

* * *

A little forewarning: chapters may not be as long as you're used to. I'm going for quality over quantity at this point. This is probably going to be my final foray into Five Nights at Freddy's, and I want to make sure I go out on a high note before starting on new projects.

Anyway, read and review!


	2. Chapter 1: Ballora Brawl

So much for a schedule. I hope this at least was worth the wait!

* * *

I grunted a bit as I crawled through the vent shaft. As equipped as I was it made the whole thing unpleasant, but finally I popped out into the room, shaking my head as I got to my feet. I started looking around to try and figure out where I was. Adams thankfully flipped the light on.

I wished he hadn't a moment later when the light exposed one of the animatronics on stage – Ballora, if memory served. Great... I set my feet, getting ready for a fight as it rotated and looked directly towards me. And then it kept rotating and spinning in its 'dance'. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was a trap as the earpiece radio crackled to life – Adams was talking.

"Alex, I'm finding a few documents on the animtronics here... Ballora's apparently some 'dance studio' attraction, meant to help kids get fit as well as have fun." I rolled my eyes. Another one of those fads, trying and failing in the uphill struggle of getting kids up and active. "From what I'm seeing here, her visual receptors went kaput a while ago and never got replaced. Her hearing is highly sensitive though, so there's that."

Great. A Daredevil ballerina robot. Adams continued to speak. "There's a lot of areas that aren't showing up on the maps of the place I have in here. It looks like there's a breaker room attached over there – if you can get in and power some of the other areas of this place up, I might be able to start tracking Afton a little further."

I just nodded, beginning to slowly creep my way across the gallery... And then the speakers overhead crackled to life. Ballora's head jerked upwards, 'looking' at where the noise had come from as Afton's voice came through. _"Ballora, you have an uninvited guest. Please, kindly deal with him."_ He chuckled darkly as Ballora began scanning through the room. _"You didn't think I would make it easy on you, Alex?"_ And with that, the sound cut off.

Mentally I swore. Now Ballora was on alert, and I had no idea how sensitive her hearing was... And it looked like the breaker room entrance was right next to her stage. Perfect. Slowly I took another step, figuring I should work my way around –

She immediately spun to face me and began slowly walking towards me. Sensitive enough hearing to pick up on footsteps, this night was just getting better and better! I was going to have to figure out some way to distract her, get her away from the door. I glanced up at Adams through the window – he was still trying to figure out how to even get it open, so it seemed like I was going to be on my own for this one.

Slowly I continued, taking advantage of the tricks I'd been taught for walking stealthily. I'd been a SWAT team lead for crying out loud, I could sneak around a murderbot. Every step seemed to have her glancing up though, as if trying to track me. She began stepping towards me a little faster this time, and I fought the urge to run. The amount of noise I'd make would get her on me in seconds, and I wasn't feeling good enough to outrun an animatronic. It didn't help that my equipment was clunking and rubbing together as well, even as slow as I was moving.

I paused for a moment, wondering if there was anything I could throw to distract her... And then saw a box full of assorted old toys and items. I smiled internally, slowly making my way towards it as Ballora kept approaching me. I checked around right at the top, trying to see if there was anything that'd make a good noise when thrown. My eyes locked onto a pair of ballet shoes – probably rentals, available for parents that didn't want to get any for their kids. I grabbed them, hearing Ballora starting to get a bit too close for comfort... Before tossing one shoe across the room.

It landed with a loud clattering sound, and Ballora immediately turned and headed towards it. This was the chance I needed as I started moving as quickly and quietly as possible towards the breaker room. I'd made it halfway when Ballora turned and started walking towards me once more; she'd been tracking me while I was moving. Great, so she was smart too. I threw the other shoe in another direction, wondering if the same trick would work twice.

She turned, began walking towards it – and then stopped, before turning back to face me and starting to approach at a bit faster of a pace. She wasn't that stupid. I braced myself to get into a fight, unlimbering one of the new stun batons that we'd been given as my thumb floated around the 'activate' button. Looks like this would be the first fight I had tonight. **"Alex, want me to take her? I'll turn that stupid ballerina outfit into scrap metal."** I shook my head a bit. _I need to prove that I'm still on my game._ Nightmare just snorted. **"You're not. You're getting old, and you've gotten yourself nearly killed at least three times now."**

I was about to reply when Adams' voice came in through the radio. "Alex, hold still. I think I've got this..." And with a loud THUNK sound, the window to the control room opened. Ballora immediately turned to look at it as he shouted. "Hey, uglybot! Over here!" That got her attention as she ran towards the window.

I didn't stop to look back as I hustled myself over to the breaker room. I could hear Ballora suddenly scrambling to try and catch me, but I was able to push into the room itself just in time. I slammed the door shut, checking behind me to make sure that it was closed properly, before trying to get Adams back on the radio. "Hey, Joseph. You okay? Talk to me, man."

There were a few moments of silence before he came back up. "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry, had to make sure the window was sealed. That thing is insane." He shook his head for a moment. "She smashed into the window as soon as I got it closed, and her... Face popped open. These new bots are using a weird kind of endoskeleton... Looks almost like an actual human one, instead of what we've seen from Golden Mile."

I nodded slightly. "Afton's had plenty of time to do research. Wouldn't surprise me that he's been building a better murderbot." I looked around a bit, trying to at least get my bearings. It seemed like a pretty standard fare for a room like this; the place was a mess, with cables and pipes hanging freely around... And in the background, a silhouette of Freddy Fazbear. I nearly dropped my baton as I saw it, before freezing up. "Joseph... There's an animatronic in here."

He swore before I heard the tapping of keys. "Yeah, I'm seeing him. It's the Funtime Freddy animatronic – basically he and his little Bon-Bon puppet were meant as a ventriloquist gimmick. He shouldn't be active, but I don't trust this place..." He paused, thinking for a moment. "You'll have to reboot the circuits, but keep an ear out for him. I'm gonna guess that electric batons won't do much to the shells of these things, Afton wouldn't be that stupid... But that faceplate opens up right before they attack."

I nodded a bit. "Say no more, I think I know how to deal with this oversized teddy bear. Just stay ready, I may need some help getting back past Ballora once I get this place running again." With that I approached the breaker panel and shifted it open, starting to examine the controls. Great, so it looked like I'd have to hold these switches up until each breaker kicked back on. I looked around the room again, keeping an eye on Freddy. "This place gives me the creeps..." With that, I went for one lever.

And then stopped, shaking my head. "I ain't that big of an idiot." With that I grabbed my other baton, braced it under all the switches, and flipped them all up at once. There were a few sparks, lights flashing and flickering inside, and slowly I heard the power beginning to hum once more. I smirked to myself, glancing up at Freddy. "You ain't sneaking up on me." With that I began to step back...

And he immediately jumped into action. "Where do you think YOU'RE going?!" He cackled, rushing me. I swore and jumped to the side. This place was way too small for a conflict as I lit up both of my batons, setting my feet as he turned and grabbed at me. I stepped back out of his range, staring him down and waiting for him to fall for the bait.

Sure enough the faceplate opened and I caught a glimpse of what was hiding within as he let out that banshee death scream into my face. Quickly I moved, bringing one electrified baton directly into contact with the metal within. Freddy jerked and shook, the screams becoming more distorted as I could see arcs of electricity within him... Before flopping back and laying still. "Scratch one bear. Joseph, you ready to help me get out of here?"

"Yeah, ready whenever. I'll give you the go ahead to leave and make a run for it – I'll try and distract them." I nodded, sitting next to the door with a hand on the doorknob, waiting for the signal. "...GO!" I could hear him starting to make a racket while I slipped out the door, starting to work my way around as quietly as I could. Thus far things seemed to be going okay.

"Alex! Behind you!" His shout came just in time to let me duck as Ballora jumped towards me in an attempt to grab me. I dodged and rolled to the side, lighting up my batons as I winced. It had been far too long since I had done anything that agile... I could do it, but it still sucked. **"Sounds like you need someone to feed off all that pain. Playtime yet?"** I shook my head, focusing on Ballora. I didn't want to unleash HIM unless I had to. I slowly began to circle Ballora, trying to gauge what she was capable of. She kept her focus directly on me, even as Adams kept shouting and trying to grab her attention. Apparently Afton wasn't as dumb as we'd thought – Ballora wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. And those fingertips looked disturbingly claw-like.

She came towards me, slashing in the air and I jumped back. She kept coming, making my eyes widen in surprise; apparently being sound-driven provided certain advantages in a fight, namely that they couldn't be fooled easily. I set my feet and moved one baton in, letting her arms slam into it. The impact jarred me and nearly made me drop it, but she stopped mid-attack to screech and gave me a chance to come in with a solid boot to her torso that sent her reeling back.

I didn't have the kind of endurance it would take to keep fighting in an extended battle. I glanced over to Adams – he would have to give me some support at this point. I grinned as I saw him setting up and getting ready with his rifle. He was always a better shot, I just had to give him a clear line of fire. Ballora staggered back to her feet and began looking around as we both went silent. She slowly began to 'look' around the room, and I wondered if she had lost sight of me... And then she let out a loud 'CLICK' sound that echoed through the empty room. A second later she turned to look directly at me. Sonar, just perfect. I stepped in towards her, making her hesitate just long enough for me to bring another baton strike in towards her leg...

It glanced off of her tutu harmlessly. The thing was reinforced. Ballora gave a malevolent cackle and went to grab me, and I could see the parts of her faceplate beginning to twitch as if ready to spring open and take me. I quickly landed the heel of my boot against her knee joint and she screamed once more before going down, giving me the opening to duck around her and give her a quick curb-stomp before nodding to Adams. "NOW!"

He didn't even hesitate as his rifle began to go to work, high-powered rounds smashing into Ballora's form one after another. My eyes widened as a few glanced off of what I could only imagine was some particularly nasty armored panels, but at least some of those bullets still punched through and I could hear them ricocheting within that metal shell, tearing through the internal workings. He unloaded a full magazine into her, before finally his gunfire ceased and the two of us shared a glance. She wasn't moving...

I wasn't stupid enough to take what could be potential bait. I just started making tracks towards the entry hatch back up to the control module. This turned out to be a very good idea indeed as I heard the creaking and squeaking of metal joints moving behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ballora getting up to her feet, stumbling a bit as she tried to follow me, limping and jittering faintly. Adams glanced down at me with wide eyes as I kept moving towards the hatch, hitting the button to open it.

Nothing. Just a negative beep. Adams swore, glancing at his control panels. "It's a proximity lock. With Ballora not on stage, the thing's sealed shut to keep her from getting into the module." He was tapping away quickly as I slammed the button again, before getting to my feet. She was beat to crap but still moving... And didn't seem to have taken nearly as much damage as we'd hoped; she was beginning to pick up some speed on her approach.

I was setting my feet at this point, wondering if I'd be able to stop her by meeting the charge and throwing her to the side. I knew their suits would block the jolt from my batons, but I hoped I'd at least have enough of a window to zap her before she managed to get her hands around my neck. I cleared my mind, watching her approach.

Just as she looked like she was about to pounce, she stopped abruptly and let out an electronic screech as her entire body convulsed, shook, smoke hissing from the suit... Before collapsing into a heap, mere feet away from me. My eyes widened and I looked up at the window just as Adams spoke. "Found it. Afton hooked them all up with electrical 'shock collars' – basically all I had to do was enable the control up here and I could send a few thousand volts through her to keep her docile." The entrance to the control module slid open, and I crawled through before leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.

"You know, that could've come a bit sooner..." I grumbled a bit, before smirking. "Thanks for bailing me out of that one."

Adams just chuckled softly. "It's what I do, Alex. Anyway, I'm working on figuring out any of the other circuits like that but it doesn't seem like they're all on the same system... He's divided them up." I nodded slightly as Adams kept tapping away at the computer keys. "Alright, so there's another control room, straight ahead." Another vent hatch opened as he nodded. "Odds are there should be some way to get a better layout of these things from there."

I just nodded. "Let me guess. You want me to clamber through and get it functional?" He nodded back, before glancing over to the terminal he was working on. "I'm still trying to map this place, and you're the hand to hand expert in case anything nasty is over there."

Well, nothing for it then. "I'll keep in touch on the radio. Be ready, just in case I need a quick evac." And with that, I started crawling through another vent, grumbling a bit. Even back on the SWAT team, I'd always hated small crawlspaces like this.

At least SWAT team lead paid well...

* * *

One down, but the fun's just beginning. I've got a few ideas in mind going forward, to boot.

Read and review!


	3. Chapter 2: Circus Combat

...I have nothing to say. Frankly at this point I don't really know what TO say beyond that I'm once more sorry that this stuff takes so long to come out. I need to get back on it, get my passion and love of writing back.

This story is gonna probably be a lot shorter than most of the other Alex Redding projects. I kinda want to just get it done.

* * *

With a grunt I came out the other side of the vents, into what I was told was 'Circus Control'. "Alright, Adams. I'm here. Now what should I be looking for?" I started looking over some of the control terminals, trying to see which ones were even active.

"For now just focus on powering things on. There should be some kind of master control in there somewhere – look for a power switch." I nodded a bit, starting to check over the terminals inside before finding a few control switches and flicking them on. Slowly terminal screens flickered to life, and Adams spoke up in my ear once again. "Alright, good work. I'm seeing a few things coming up..." I heard the faint tapping of keys through the radio and glanced through the windows.

From what little I could see, it looked like the room had been painted up with a circus theme. Bright colors faded to dull, with the faint outlines of tents and roller coasters off in the distance dimmed to little more than faint shapes of color. It was almost tragic, in a way. Once upon a time, kids came here and enjoyed themselves, forming lifetime memories, and now it was just a shell of its former self. All it takes is one bad guy in the right place and suddenly something so innocent becomes chilling and malevolent... **"And sometimes, it doesn't even take a villain. All it ever takes is one bad day."** I didn't have an answer to that as I glanced over everything once more.

"Alright. Alex, there's something else wrong in here... For some reason I can 'see' the systems you just powered on, but I can't connect to them. There's probably something unplugged in there, see if you can find anything under the desk or something." Joseph's voice cut through my thoughts once more and I nodded, before crouching down.

I poked around for a moment before finding a panel that slid open. "Alright, I think I've found something..." Slowly I slid it open. It was a crawlspace, big enough for a person and with a few cables hanging down in the back... Including a network cable, looking like it got unplugged from a jack. "I found it, hang on." I crawled in, then paused for a moment before closing the panel behind me. Something about this place gave me the creeps, and I didn't want anyone sneaking up on me.

Turns out this was a good idea, because as soon as I managed to connect that jack back up I could hear the faint sound of a window being opened... And then, cracking the hatch open faintly to glance out, saw a pair of plastic-covered feet. It was another animatronic – probably that 'Circus Baby' one. I really didn't want to duke it out with any more robots for the time being, especially not without Joseph offering me any support. I held my breath, wondering if I could take her by surprise and get a quick dispatch...

And then I saw it. That freaky little 'Bon-Bon' hand puppet just landed, around her ankle height. The thing looked around for a moment, before locking eyes on the crawlspace that I was peeking out of. I shifted a little bit, holding my breath as it bounced its way over, grabbing hold of the hatch and flinging it open before looking in –

At which point I punched it square in the nose, sending it rolling and bouncing across before smacking off the back of the control room. Guess there was no time to be subtle left... As soon as I'd made it out of the vent, Baby was already turning to face me and I could see individual panels of her faceplate beginning to twitch. I did not want to see what her bite was like as I flicked one of my electrical batons to life and shouted in my radio. "ADAMS! Got trouble here!"

He shouted a quick reply just as Baby charged me. She was angry and looking to kill, but sloppy. I was able to turn it into a quick hip-toss followed by a kick to her head that shattered the plastic over one of her pigtails. This seemed to greatly annoy her, and she made her frustration known by screaming in my face and punching me square in the gut, giving me a friendly reminder of just how painful these murderbots could be if you let them get their hands on you.

I groaned and tried to get my feet back under me from that impact and she came down with both fists right between my shoulder blades, sending me sprawled out on the ground. Before I could recover, she was grabbing me and flipping me over, screaming in my face as her faceplate cracked open and she leaned down. I could tell she wanted to get a bite out of me, and I reacted by trying to jam my armored forearm into the joints... Just as she 'bit' down on me.

The pain was _excruciating_. I let out a cry of anger as she actively tried to use those razor-sharp components to cut through armor, flesh and bone. **"Let me at her, Alex. I'll teach her the meaning of pain!"** I growled slightly and grit my teeth, shaking my head. I had to do this myself. **"No, you don't. You're telling yourself that!"** I shook it off and started punching at the exposed endoskeleton within Baby's suit. This managed to at least get her off, but not without leaving a nasty gash in the kevlar gauntlet. I stumbled back a bit, glancing over and seeing one of those two-button panels. Another shock device? I had to take the risk; there wasn't time for me to do anything else.

My fist slammed against the control and the effects were immediate. Baby stood stiff upright, and I could see sparks and electricity arcing and jumping her components as she shook, smoke leaking out of her chassis while the control shock worked her over. I staggered back up, and managed to draw my pistol as the jolts began to ease off, leaving her looking rather off-kilter. She did glance back up to me, her faceplate opening to scream in my face.

" **NOW!"** I didn't need any prompting to start shooting, putting bullet after bullet into the endoskeleton and sending it rattling and clanging around within her internal parts. There was now a lot of smoke coming out of the skeleton at this point... And she finally collapsed to the ground, occasionally jittering and shaking as the last bits of voltage coursed through her. I let out a slow sigh of relief before reloading my gun, absently looking over the controls in this new room while I did.

It was clear that this was the 'main attraction' of this location from the sheer amount of features and functionality available, devoted solely to this location. I made a few mental notes of it all before starting to switch the systems on one after another. Slowly I was seeing the room light up through the glass, shaking my head a bit. It never ceased to amaze me just how innocent Fazbear Entertainment had seemed before I'd learned all of this. If Afton hadn't been such an absolute psychopath, maybe this place could've been somewhere fun to be... They had the technology to make a real dream come true here.

" **The most imaginative and inventive people are either those that never lost their innocence, or those that willingly gave it up to sink into depravity, Alex."** Nightmare's voice echoed in my head, and I sighed softly. **"Either they have that childlike imagination, or they channel it into finding new ways to be monsters."**

I shook my head again. _That doesn't make it right. This Fazbear business has parents on watch for anywhere that might market to kids, and it has the kids afraid to let their guard down and just be... Kids._

" **Right doesn't matter anymore, Alex. Law of the jungle is all we've got left – and that means kids are gonna have to grow up a lot faster."** I didn't want to admit it, but Nightmare was right. Just another point where people have failed...

I was so busy thinking and daydreaming that I'd forgotten about Bon-Bon. He decided to make this problem known by jumping onto me, digging teeth into anywhere that wasn't covered by armor. I yelled in pain and tried to shake the little bugger off, slamming him into walls, the console, the chair... Anything I could. I slammed its head with the butt of my pistol over and over, trying to get him off. Finally, one good blow managed to get him to tear away, the shirt I had underneath the armor ripping and revealing a nasty set of teeth marks imprinted on my flesh.

Bon-Bon spat the fabric out and seemed to be getting ready to attack again. I took the initiative, taking two quick steps forwards. My leg came up, and I turned to the side before delivering the heel of my combat boot directly to the nose of the little hand puppet. He flew off like a rocket out of a tube, slamming into the reinforced windows with enough force to send a spiderweb of cracks from him before gravity took effect and he dropped onto the console, laying still. I figured that was as good an opportunity to make myself scarce as any.

I moved over, slamming the hatch opening button and diving into the crawlspace between the control rooms, starting to work my way down once again. When I heard movement behind me, from the Circus Control, I hesitated for a moment before turning around and glancing over my shoulder.

The hatch was still open and I could see... Something, gathering up the wreckage and rubble of Baby, picking her back up. I couldn't help but watch on, trying to figure out who it was. Clearly these bots were more intelligent and durable than before. The robot bent down... And I swore under my breath. It was Funtime Freddy – I was positive I'd knocked him completely out earlier. No such luck, apparently; he was still in full working order, despite all the voltage I'd pushed through his system.

To make matters worse, a few moments later Baby was standing and walking under her own power again. Her steps were shaky and she was clearly showing damage, but the two of them simply crawled through the window back into the Circus room. I swore again as I kept crawling through the vent. This changed everything – if they were durable enough to shrug off the kind of beatings I was throwing out, it was good odds that Ballora was back up and running as well. These animatronics were going to be a lot harder to deal with, and I had a feeling they wouldn't be content to attack me one by one at this rate.

I finally climbed out and looked up as Adams spoke up, rushing over to me. "You okay? I heard you calling for help, but the hatches were locked down. I couldn't override it."

I just nodded, waving it off. "I figured as much. Listen, Afton's done some heavy reinforcing of the bots. I just put a full clip of .45 rounds into Baby, sent them bouncing around right inside her endoskeleton. And then watched as Freddy – the one I zapped in the breaker room – picked her up, dusted her off, put his demonic hand puppet back on, and left with her."

Adams shook his head. "That can't be possible. That amount of damage should render them wrecked. Heck, we saw what it and a dose of high voltage did to Ballora. Last I saw her, she was still a smoking wreck in her little gallery."

My mind raced as I rushed over to the control panel, slamming the light button. As the lights came up in Ballora Gallery, my jaw dropped. I heard Adams swear behind me, muttering that it wasn't possible before immediately going back to one of his control terminals, typing like mad.

I didn't need a technical readout to know what had just happened. I was seeing it with my own two eyes... Specifically, I was NOT seeing something.

Ballora was gone. Not even a scrap of metal to show that she had been wrecked in that very room. I swore to myself and shook my head as I glanced back to Adams. "Joseph –" He was already pulling up a schematic and swearing to himself, pointing at a dot on the screen.

"Right there. Whatever's going on, they're working out of this room." He typed away once more, before smiling softly. "I think I have an idea, as well. That's Parts and Service, so it makes sense that it's where they're working out of... I think it also might be the key we need to find Afton." This had my attention, as he continued to speak. "I've been trying to trace the movements and actions these bots have been taking, and it's all leading towards this side of the building." He typed out another series of commands. "Afton's network here is distributed, but it's got to come from somewhere. The good news is I think I know where the origin point is... At least, roughly so."

I nodded slightly. "This sounds like a good news, bad news statement. What's the catch?"

Adams typed a bit more, and zoomed a camera view in on Parts and Service. "Wherever his inner sanctum is, it's locked down. I think I can override the lock-out, but I need a hard copy schematic of this place." He smirked faintly. "People keep forgetting to change the master passcodes on things. If it works the way I hope, all you'll have to do is –"

"– Get into the main hive of where all the murderbots are, not get myself killed, find this schematic of yours, and get it back here with all my extremities intact." I sighed softly. "Great. You know, you really send me to the greatest places..."

Adams laughed softly before nodding. "That's my job. Just be careful out there, okay?" He turned serious. "The remote electrocutions won't work from this range, and I don't think they're gonna be too responsive to them this time out. These bots are smart."

I nodded. "Yeah, but I think I'm a bit smarter. Plus, I'm a little bit too stubborn to die." With that, I crouched down to the access hatch. It slid open. "Keep an eye out. There's a missing fox animatronic still, and I don't feel like having it try and rip my head off from behind."

He just nodded and sighed. "Be careful, Alex. We're still in hostile territory."

I crawled through the hatch with a sigh and a shake of my head. I was currently on my way towards their ground zero, where they would have every advantage... And Adams was telling me to 'be careful'.

" **He's known you for how long now, and he thinks that's something you'll listen to?"** I rolled my eyes at that.

 _Shut up, Nightmare._

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Read and review.


	4. Chapter 3: Of Vixens and Hand-Puppets

Hey, new chapter in something roughly resembling a timely manner! Who would've thought? This one's a little longer than normal, but there's a lot of ground to cover at once. I kicked around the idea of dividing it into two, but considering how everything pieces together I figured it'd be better to go for the long post instead of two shorter ones.

Let me know what you think!

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I finally climbed out of the service hatch, shaking my head a little bit as I got to my feet. This room was dark, even more than Ballora Gallery was. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face, and mentally grumbled a little bit. "Joseph, I'm flying blind here. What's going on, can you get the lights up?"

There was the sound of typing and he replied a moment later. "No go, Alex. This place is kept dark – apparently it's for the sake of..." He trailed off before sighing. "You're not gonna like this. Funtime Foxy – apparently she's got an issue with light sensitivity in her optics. Afton never bothered to fix it."

My hand had started moving up to my flashlight while we were talking, but that made me stop where I was. As if it wasn't bad enough... I'd remembered that the Foxy model from the second location – it felt like an eternity ago now, but it was only a few years – had light sensitivity. Come to think of it...

" **That's right. YOUR Foxy gave you a royal chewing out when you used the flash in a camera for a photograph. Seems like a common problem with these scrap-heaps."** He let out a low chuckle that sounded like metal grinding against metal, echoing through my skull. **"At least it means she should be pretty docile... Though that's a shame. Was hoping to have some fun."**

I sighed softly, getting on the radio again. "Any way you can at least direct me a little bit? I can't even find the Parts and Service door out here – it's pitch black, and I doubt using my flashlight would be a very good idea if there's a light-sensitive, hostile animatronic in here." Slowly my hands went to rest on my batons, but I hesitated. If it was a Foxy model...

Adams' voice came through again. "...Kind of. I can see an overview map of the place from here, so I can try and guide you in a little bit. Hang on." He paused for a moment before I heard the observation room window crack open. "Alright. I think I might have an idea. Funtime Foxy is a light-sensitive animatronic, same way that Ballora was sound-sensitive. If we work together, I should be able to help get you over to Parts and Service without too much trouble."

I didn't hold out too much confidence in that. **"And if that doesn't work, and you can't bring yourself to kick the crap out of something that looks just like your 'beloved'... I don't have such qualms."**

Whether I liked it or not, Nightmare had a point. I wasn't completely sure I could keep the resolve I needed to go on the attack, and I had a feeling I'd have to deal with Funtime Foxy at some point anyway... But for now, I nodded. "Alright, let's do this."

"Alright. Shield your eyes for a second." I did so, and was faintly aware of a flash that light the entire room up – followed by a mechanical stomping motion, sounding like it was a few feet behind me. "Okay, good. I've got your bearings now. Turn left about... 45 degrees, and you'll be facing the door."

I did so, starting to walk forward as soon as I turned... And my foot impacted a box, sending it scattering along the floor. An old camera hit the ground, the impact making the flashbulb go off. I swore to myself and turned as I heard those heavy footsteps coming towards me. "Adams!"

He swore over the radio as well. "The place is absolutely a junk heap, Alex. There's so much old, abandoned crap in there that my map isn't very good. I'll have to guide you in directly, and we'll just need to hope that we can do it without getting the fox too upset." There was another brief moment, and another flash lit the room up. "Take two steps to your left and then walk forward again for about five paces." I followed the instructions to the letter. "Now, one step to your right – there's a skateboard on the ground in front of where you are now. From there, keep walking forward for another few paces."

I kept moving, kept listening to his instructions. A few more steps, and there was a bright flash – and another moment of cursing from Adams. "DUCK!" I didn't even hesitate as I dropped into a crouch. A second later, something smashed into the wall a few paces in front of me. "That fox is smart. She just threw a steel lockbox at you – if it had hit, you'd be meat." He paused for a moment. "She's using my flashbulb to help guide herself in on your position."

Great. They were learning even faster than we had expected. And then to make matters even worse, I heard Afton's voice speak up a moment later. _"Ah, so you've found your way to Funtime Auditorium. Once upon a time, this was the main show floor – once every two hours, the whole band came out here to put on a performance... Well, when I say the WHOLE band."_ He paused for a moment, malevolent laughter echoing out. _"Of course there was always another animatronic or two standing by in the other rooms, waiting to see if there were any stragglers..."_ I knew what he was implying, and my teeth grit together. _"Ah, but that was a long time ago. These days, the only guests they have are myself and any victims that come along... And yourself, of course. Unfortunately for you, my friends only seem to recognize me. I hope you two have fun... Consider this a reunion with your lost love, Mr. Redding."_ With that, his voice cut out again.

The flashbulb kicked on from the office, and Adams yelled out to me. "Alex! RUN!" That was all I needed as I heard the heavy sounds of an animatronic running at full speed, already nipping at my heels. I put the pedal down and bolted – all of 10 feet before my foot hooked on a box and sent me sprawling to the ground. _No point for subtlety now..._ I flicked my flashlight on.

Just in time to see Funtime Foxy barreling down on me, her mask opened to reveal some VERY sharp looking, dagger-like teeth within her artificial muzzle. I reacted as fast as I could, pulling a baton out as she dove down on me, teeth aiming for my neck. Quickly reacting I shoved the baton into her mouth sideways, wedging her jaw open and keeping her from snapping down on my throat. We struggled, and I threw punch after punch into her metal framework.

All that seemed to do was make her mad as she grabbed at my punching arm, squeezing the wrist painfully tightly – almost managing to break it. I brought a knee up to her midsection, putting a significant dent in her torso and getting her to back off enough for me to slide back and try to scramble to my feet. The flashlight's beam swung wildly as I tried to find the Parts and Service door. As soon as I caught sight of it I took off, taking advantage of the light to keep myself from tripping over any other boxes.

That didn't last long as Foxy tackled me to the ground from the side, knocking the wind out of my lungs and leaving me gasping for breath. This turned out to be painful as well – my battered ribs had taken the brunt of that impact, and I prayed they hadn't re-broken. My breathing didn't feel like a knife was being forced into my chest, but that wasn't much of a relief as Foxy was once more on top of me, her claws slashing and punching into my chest armor and clearly shredding into it.

I swore to myself, throwing punches and kicks into her structure but to no avail; she was too tough for me to do any damage. I moved my hands up to block her blows, trying to get a chance to counterattack, but it wasn't doing much good; in fact, I almost got my arm re-broken trying to grab hers and keep her from landing a strike on me. My armor had taken too much of a pounding from the other fights, and I was running out of ideas. I saw the flashbulb go off again, making Foxy glance up and snarl –

Just in time for Adams to put round after armor-piercing round into her structure, shattering her suit's panels and clearly causing a heavy amount of damage. One bullet passed right through her muzzle and I looked away as shards rained down over me, leaving a nice cut along my cheek. I swore to myself as Foxy climbed off of me and scrambled away into the darkness. "Alex! You okay?"

I groaned softly, stumbling to my feet. Every move hurt and ached in a way I hadn't felt since Fazbear's Fright, but I was still alive and I gave him a thumbs up. "I've been better, but everything's still attached. Gonna try and make a run for Service." With that I grabbed for my flashlight... Only to feel shattered plastic and glass. "Crap. My light's toast, Adams – need to get my bearings. Can you give me a flash?"

The bulb went off and the room was bathed in light just long enough for me to orient myself towards the door. I also could barely make out Funtime Foxy's battered form in a far corner, near her stage. **"You know that she's going to be waiting for you, right? It'd be better if you took her apart now, didn't give her time to recover."**

I shook my head. _She's a Foxy model. That means I'm gonna have to preserve her, just in case there aren't enough leftover endos._ I started moving towards Parts and Service.

" **That's not going to matter if she tears your throat out with your teeth on the way out!"** He groaned angrily. **"I knew you wouldn't be able to do this yourself! Let me out, I'll deal with her."**

 _No,_ I thought, _I'm not going to risk losing MY Foxy._ With that, I headed through the door into the service room. It was not a large area, and to make matters worse it was dimly lit. All I could see was bathed in a faint blue glow. "Alright, I'm in. So all I need is to find the schematic, and you'll be able to handle the rest. Right?"

"Pretty much. Once I know what his security system is, I can start bouncing around the computer system until I find an override. After that, we can drag him out of his hidey-hole and shut this place down for good."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll let you know when I'm on my way back." With that, I started to search the room, examining a few boxes and shelves to see what I could turn up. Old paperwork, financial files... Wait, hang on. I started looking over some of those, just out of curiosity. Glancing through one, I raised an eyebrow. "Hey, Adams. I've got something here..." I took a closer look. "Afton's been a busy boy in more than one way. I found some old invoices from Golden Mile robotics – apparently they were selling stuff to him all along, even while everything was going down." Flipping through a few pages, I let out a whistle. "This guy's gotta be loaded, even after the Fazbear Entertainment accounts were frozen..."

Adams spoke up after a moment. "A lot of those accounts were cleared out just days before we could lock them down – we figured there was some kind of leak, but it'd have to be high up on the chain. Nobody knew about the case until we dropped the hammer on Fazbear Entertainment."

I nodded softly. "I think I've found out where those accounts were drained to, and who your leak was. Golden Mile did seem a little suspicious with how willing they were to help hammer Fazbear's after the Toy Incident..."

"...Which is the only reason they managed to not get the entire management staff thrown behind bars." Adams swore. "You don't think they're working with Afton directly, do you?"

I shook my head. "I don't have to think it. These invoices were dated all the way through and to the end of the Fazbear Entertainment case. All the while, they were getting the last of Fazbear's money while tossing parts and equipment to Afton so he could get his bunker working again." I swore softly, pocketing the information. "We're gonna need this stuff if we want to put everyone in a nice, deep hole."

Nightmare growled. **"I still want to deal with Afton personally. That old coot won't stand for long... I'd love to make him scream."** I shook it off, pocketing a few more files and turning to examine another box.

And that was when I heard a conveyor belt kicking on with a mechanical grinding noise. Swearing to myself, I turned just in time to see Funtime Freddy, seemingly inert, moving along the belt. "Crap!" I grabbed for my batons, ready for a fight. He didn't seem to move as I came around to the front of the conveyor. Nothing – his eyes weren't glowing, he wasn't reacting... Even that hand puppet of his was in place. It was like he was frozen. "Adams, I've got a powered off Funtime Freddy sitting here in front of me. What's going on?"

I could hear him typing away through the radio before he responded. "All his signals are currently DOA. It looks like he's been powered down for some reason – I'm not sure what's going on, but he's pretty much inert." He typed a bit more, and I heard him swear. "You're not gonna like this."

I sighed. "Let me guess. I have to play maintenance man and crack him open, because he's got something we need to get our hands on Afton."

"Got it in one. The schematics aren't a physical copy, apparently – they're coded onto control boards in the bots themselves. That's how they're able to function so well." He typed a bit more. "I can talk you through getting the control board, though. First off, you'll have to pop the shell open; the board is installed in the base of every robot's neck. The manual control is on the nose."

This was going to be difficult. I pressed the nose, and my hand jerked back as the panels sprung open and revealed that metal endoskeleton beneath. I could even see the scorch marks where I'd nailed him with one of my stun batons. Slowly I began to examine the neck, finally finding the port. I grabbed at it, and then swore softly as I saw a small number pad come out. "Adams, this thing's looking for a passcode. Where can I find that?"

He typed away for a moment, before speaking again. "That little Bon-Bon hand puppet has it printed on the inside of his head. Same control to open his suit up."

I turned my attention to the hand where Bon-Bon sat... And swore. The little bugger was gone. "Adams, the puppet's bolted!" I started looking around, trying to find where he went, trying to stay ready just in case he decided to maul me. Turning quickly, I saw a glimpse of him disappearing behind a pile of boxes. I didn't waste any time, quickly diving towards him and swearing the entire time as the boxes flew out of my way. "C'mere, you little-!"

He bounced out of the way of my outstretched hands, rushing towards one of the racks of assorted parts before knocking one support out of the way and sending it tumbling towards me. It would've been funny if it wasn't so dangerous; that was solid steel, and a lot of it. I rolled to the side just as it hit with a thunderous CRASH! I could hear Adams shouting my name, trying to see if I was okay as I spun again, baton outstretched and making a swing at the puppet. He jumped aside again, this time bee-lining for Funtime Freddy. The last thing I needed was for him to reactivate the big bot; this was way too small a room to have a fight. I saw a control panel hooked up to the conveyor, and quickly hit one of the switches.

The inert robot moved just in time for Bon-Bon to miss his jump and skid across the belt. I moved quickly, stomping down on his middle. I felt mechanical bone and metallic filament crunch beneath my heel and knew I had him where I wanted. A quick move and kick upwards, and I grabbed him by the ears. He gnashed his teeth and writhed as best he could, but a punch to the nose shut him down and popped his faceplate open. "Game over, you Looney Tunes reject." I quickly turned the conveyor belt off, freezing Funtime Freddy in place before grabbing my radio again. "I'm fine, Adams. The handpuppet decided to try and make a play."

"Dang. Resilient little things... Apparently he was able to block his signal. Sorry, Alex." I just shrugged it off. "Anyway, guessing you've got the code now. Punch it in, grab the schematic board, and kick the belt back on. Apparently wherever it leads goes to some kind of robotics disposal room... They call it the 'Scooper'."

I shook my head slightly. "That doesn't sound pleasant in the least." With that, I typed the code in and smiled triumphantly as that command board popped right out. I grabbed it, pocketing it and kicking the belt on. My last action was to toss Bon-Bon onto the belt, right next to Funtime Freddy. "Hopefully this 'Scooper' will break something while it dismantles you maniac machines." With that, I left the Service room.

And stepped right into the darkness again. I swore to myself as I started making my way through the darkness. "Adams, I'm gonna need another flashbulb here. Can't see a freakin' thing." As soon as I stopped speaking, I could hear static breaking out through the radio. "Adams? You there?!" I glanced up as I heard something shifting and sliding, as well as another mechanical groan.

There was suddenly light filling the room as the command module's one way window cracked open, and Adams shouted at me. "ALEX, MOVE!" He didn't have to tell me twice as I took off at a dead run for the crawlspace entrance –

Just in time for light to fill the room and for me to feel an impact knocking me back in. Funtime Foxy, sans suit, was now roaring at me in an absurdly distorted way. I wasn't able to move, wasn't able to get away, and I knew Adams didn't have a shot this time. To put it bluntly, I was screwed. I was able to start wrestling away from Funtime Foxy a bit, but every time I started getting my advantage she would snarl and bear down even harder, getting closer and closer to killing range.

" **Sorry Alex, but I'm gonna step in now."** And with that, suddenly everything around me took on a red hue, and everything began to just feel numb. At that moment, I was a passenger in my own body, and Nightmare had the wheel. **"Oh, MAN does this feel good!"** I could see my limbs moving, contorting in ways that would send incredible pain through my body from the exertion... But managing to take Funtime Foxy off guard. She hesitated for a moment before going for my throat.

That moment was all Nightmare needed to grab hold of both ends of her muzzle, grasping hard enough to bend those metal teeth inwards. **"Bad fox!"** I heard my voice cry out as Nightmare then pulled those jaws apart, far wider than they were meant to go. **"No biting!"** With a sickening CRUNCH sound, I knew that he... that I had just dislocated her jaw. This gave Nightmare the opportunity needed to throw her off, scrambling to his feet as he puppeteered my body to loom over her. **"Gonna have to send you to obedience training!"** With that, he started bringing the heel of my heavy boot down, again and again, on her head. I winced with every sickening smash and crunch, mechanical whimpers and screeches dying down to static... And then nothingness as her thrashing and writhing finally ceased.

With that, the red haze faded and I was back in control of my own body. Strangely, I wasn't feeling nearly as much pain as I expected, considering what I'd just done. Just a dull aching sensation. **"You're welcome. Like I said, I feed off pain so I'm keeping it from hitting you and sending you to the floor. Sorry I kinda just jumped in, but I think you'd prefer that to the alternative."**

I groaned softly, kicking a bit of scrap metal off my boot as I turned and made my way back to the command module. _I really do hate it when you're right._ With that, I crawled through the hatch and leaned against the wall inside.

"Alex! Holy crap, I thought you were screwed for sure. You were moving like a man possessed there! You okay?" Adams quickly ducked to my side, looking me over.

I groaned and waved him off. "Gonna hurt like crazy in the morning, but I can survive for today. Here." I fished all the paperwork out, as well as the schematics board I'd recovered from Funtime Freddy. "Get your job done, let's finish this."

He took it all, pocketing the papers before plugging the control board in and nodding. "Alright. According to all this, the secret room is..." He swore to himself. "Okay. Good news, I know where you're going next and what you need – there's a keycard that you need to access the other half of the building, where Afton's hiding. Bad news..." He glanced over to me. "It's in the Scooping Room. And the only way in is through Funtime Auditorium again."

I swore and got back to my feet. "With a little luck, I should be able to get in and out without much trouble. Now that the fox is toast and the bear is being dismantled, all that's really left is the ballerina and the clown."

He pulled the flashlight from his gear, passing it to me. "I won't be able to cover you in there. The Scooping Room is completely blacked out to me. And to make matters worse, the radios are being jammed – you're going in blind."

I nodded, sighing softly as I slipped the flashlight into the same spot where my old one had been destroyed. "Great. Give me ten minutes – if I'm not back out in the hall with the light on by then, I'm in trouble." With that, I started working my way through the crawlspace once more. Flicking the light on, it wasn't too hard to find the hatch marked 'Scooping Room – Maintenance Entry Only' and start moving through... Oddly, Funtime Foxy's carcass was missing.

" **I've got a bad feeling about this..."**

 _Real reassuring. At least I know that's not just your weird psychotic painkiller._

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And so we get a taste of what Nightmare's capable of. Not a very long one for sure, but hey - he's a psychotic fragment of Alex's mind, so he can basically manually kick adrenaline in and push Alex's body beyond its normal limits. It's gonna hurt like crazy after it's all done, though.

Anyway, read and review!


	5. Chapter 4: Rising Nightmare

What's this? Another good length chapter, and so soon?!

Yep. I've really taken to heart my decision to do a chunk of writing every day - even setting a timer to make sure I stay on task. The result is what you've got right here. I'm hoping it's decent quality, I tried to bring out a few nastier elements of Nightmare's personality while also making things just a little bit more interesting.

Let me know what you think!

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Ever get the feeling that you really, REALLY should've listened to your instincts? Or, rather, the malevolent voice echoing inside your head? That was how I felt as I crawled out of the hatch and into a seemingly empty, wide open room. It was roughly cylindrical, and I could see two windows on the far side of that entrance, flanking...

Well. If that wasn't the 'Scooper', then I don't know what else it could be. It looked like a pneumatically powered ice cream scoop from the depths of Hades itself that could extend across the entire room, and judging by how sharp that 'scoop' looked, I really didn't want to end up finding out what it was meant for. I'm not sure what started triggering those bad instincts to start flaring up; maybe it was the abandoned shells of Funtime Freddy and Ballora, scattered across the floor. Perhaps it was the faint silhouette I could almost make out through the windows, making my hands itch to have my magnums in them. Maybe the security camera focusing in on me, with a blinking 'record' light going.

Or maybe it was the sudden audio clip that played. _"Warning! You've entered a highly dangerous area. You've entered from maintenance hatch 1B, reserved for cleaning and repair of The Scooper! Entering this side of the room is strictly prohibited by unauthorized persone- "_ The voice cut off short, and I immediately knew I was in trouble.

" _Ah, Mr. Redding... So good of you to step right into my trap. You know, I thought it would be much more difficult to persuade you to wander into the Scooper – in fact, I sincerely was not sure if you would even fall for it!"_ I glared at the camera as William Afton cackled softly. _"I must also thank you for dropping Funtime Freddy off. I was getting slightly impatient, waiting for him to come along and be ready for his phase of my little... Project. The fact that his schematic card had been specifically altered to lead you in here was just the icing on the cake, so to speak."_

I swore to myself – I should've known that him showing up on that conveyor was just a little too convenient. I wasn't about to play this game, and I turned to leave the room.

Just as Funtime Foxy – sans suit, and looking VERY much worse for wear – and Circus Baby came in on their own belts, rushing me and grabbing my arms. I thrashed and tried to fight back, but the painkiller that Nightmare had pumping through me was starting to wear thin and I could feel the agony moving through my arms as I struggled. "What are you playing at, Afton?!"

" _Now, now... I was getting to that. You see, Mr. Redding... My time here at the Fazbear Sister Location is drawing to a close. The final die have been cast; with your discovery, I am no longer going to be able to operate with impunity from within these walls. I knew the end was coming, so I devised a plan... A brilliant, cunning plan, as I'm sure you'll agree."_ Without warning, the lights on the outside of the Scooping room came up.

Revealing a horrific abomination of mechanical parts, leering at me from outside with what I could only describe as a malevolent grin. _"Meet my magnum opus. A hive-minded creation, made up of multiple animatronics and sentience matrices merged into one, single construct. I've taken to calling him 'Ennard', but the truth is he is every last one of the machines you have encountered tonight... All at once."_ He laughed softly to himself. _"Through every struggle and conflict you have had, I have saved the information and compiled it, spreading across the four robots you have dealt with tonight. I maintained these pieces as separate, waiting for one final stroke."_

He paused for a moment and I tried to struggle, glancing between the two murderbots holding me in place. **"Alex, pay attention. Listen to every word he says. He's missing a piece, but you need to know it before we can get out of here!"** I grumbled to myself as Nightmare's voice echoed through my mind, before glaring at the camera once more.

" _You see... Ennard requires a suit. A body. And as much as I have enjoyed designing and creating the mechanical suits that you've been struggling with... He needs something more specialized. Something that he can fit into and simply disappear into the crowd..."_ I could almost hear the grin on Afton's face. _"Something that would allow him to gather more victims for me. The stroke of inspiration came from Golden Freddy's 'Springtrap' construct; the mechanical suits would have been too obvious. But a biological one..."_

I put two and two together, and a chill went down my spine. "You want to gut me and use me as a disguise for this 'Ennard' thing of yours." Not for the first time, I felt fear. I remembered the insanity and agony that had been clear on Fritz's face when he struggled against Golden Freddy's control, back in Fazbear's Fright. That was not an experience I wanted to share.

" _Precisely. You're more intelligent than even I gave you credit for, Mr. Redding! Correct. I plan to have you provide the suit for Ennard... And the Scooper will see to it that he has room to spare inside you."_ There was the sound of a warning alarm going off. _"I won't lie and say that it will not be painful, having your entrails and organs harshly removed in such a way. But take some joy in knowing that I doubt the pain will last very long."_ The lights came up in the Scooping Room, and that klaxon sounded once again. _"Goodbye, Mr. Redding."_

This was it. I couldn't get away, couldn't move. And I was about to be eviscerated and turned into Afton's own personal murder machine. **"Alex, I think now would be a good time to apologize for lying to you."** Time seemed to slow down as Nightmare spoke up.

 _What are you talking about? Afton led us into a trap._ I shook my head in confusion.

" **I know. I figured it out as soon as the Scooping Room was mentioned... A little piece of information that I kept under my proverbial hat."** I saw a redness beginning to take over the corners of my vision as my heart began to pound in my chest.

 _What?! How did you know?_ And at that, I had a brief flash back...

 _Among some of the details that we'd assembled from former members of the work crew for the Sister Location was mention of the 'Scooping Process'. Apparently the animatronic designs used there were an advanced variety that locked in place within their suits, and needed to literally be 'scooped' out in order to be worked on and maintained outside of the suit environment. Apparently there had been a few accidents, where different people had been caught in the scooping process and been forcibly disemboweled by the Scooper. I'd figured this was just background information, and only made a mental note to watch out for this aforementioned Scooper._

" **Except you forgot, in all the chaos. I didn't, though – I kept it in mind, and waited. I knew that judging by how our luck went, eventually you'd find your way into this room."** His voice was taking on a more malevolent, excited tone now.

 _Why? Why did you let me fall for this?!_ I struggled a bit more as I could feel some other force taking control of my limbs.

" **Simple. Because I owe Afton a few broken bones that you don't have the guts to give him... And besides, I still want to play!"** With that, the Scooper engaged, the blade aiming straight for my midsection –

With an inhuman scream, my body dove towards Funtime Foxy's scraps and pulled Circus Baby directly into the path of the scoop. Watching through eyes that felt foreign to me, I saw the blade impact her midsection and force the panels to open. I heard an inhuman screech as it shifted and dragged upwards and out, pulling every last component of Baby's endoskeleton from the suit and leaving it to collapse into a pile of spare parts. I caught a brief glimpse of myself in the reflective metal that made up her suit.

Whether it was my imagination or not, I still don't know. But I saw glowing red eyes reflected back where my own normally were. My body moved and tackled Funtime Foxy down, beginning to take advantage of what little armor remained on my gauntlets to pummel her with blows that would shatter bone otherwise, denting her metallic skeleton with every impact. **"Didn't you learn the last time?"** My voice yelled as I twisted and dislodged a shoulder joint from Funtime Foxy's arm. **"Ah yes... The pain feels so GOOD!"** Nightmare yelled as he took control.

I could faintly see Funtime Foxy's features being replaced with my Foxy's. I tried to shake my head, to clear this hallucination, but had no luck – it was clear that Nightmare was toying with me. **"I need your pain too, Alex. That's the only way we can do this."** I felt him landing a kick that knocked Foxy's knee joint out of position, and heard her voice screaming in pain. My heart wrenched and lurched, and I felt sick to my stomach as Nightmare gleefully puppeted my body to stomp and shatter metallic muscle, leaving oil and hydraulic fluid spurting and gushing across the floor like blood.

" _Well, I'm certainly impressed, Mr. Redding,"_ Afton's voice was clearly dripping with malice and rage at this point as the camera focused on me, _"But I think you've played quite long enough. Baby! Foxy! Return to Ennard!"_ He cackled softly to himself. _"Go attend to our other esteemed guest. I think the Mini-Reenas have him quite nicely suited... It would surprise me if he hasn't been springlocked by now, but just in case..."_

My heart jumped into my throat. Adams! _We've got to get out of here and find him!_ I yelled at Nightmare, hoping to get his attention as he attempted to make a grab at the remaining two endoskeletons, quickly scampering through the conveyor. Ennard had also disappeared from outside of the Scooping Room.

Nightmare growled softly. **"Who cares about him? I want Afton's head on a stick, and I don't think you're capable of doing anything about it."** With that, he angled himself towards the window before barreling towards it. The first impact left the plexiglass severely dented, the second sent a spiderweb of cracks through it. The third charge broke through, and Nightmare dove my body out into the outside of the Scooping room. **"AFTON!"** He roared out, guiding me down the halls and giving chase to Ennard.

I was helpless. Adams was in trouble, and Nightmare seemed more bent on destruction than anything else. _How did you manage to take over without my permission?!_

Nightmare cackled softly to himself. **"Ever since I came back from that headshot, I've been able to. I just ride along with adrenaline – when your heart starts pounding, I take hold. I just let you think that you'd have control over me... Truth is, I'm the stronger one. I can fight harder, faster, and longer than you ever could."** With that, he ducked down a side hall. **"Now shut up. I have an old coot to rip apart."**

Great. A prisoner in my own head as my best friend was locked in one of those mechanical deathtraps, with what could only be seconds left on his life. I growled angrily, trying to challenge Nightmare, but it was clear he was ignoring me at this point. All I could do was watch on as he chased Ennard down the halls, finally turning a corner and grinning. Ennard had disappeared, but there was a single doorway down the main hall. **"Mmm... This has to be the place. I can smell him."** He began stalking down the hall. **"Oh, Afton... You and I have a score to settle..."** That malevolent grin spread across his face as he stalked up to the doorway, ready to reach in.

I got a brief glimpse of a silver eyed, white haired man in a purple suit before a blast door – similar to the ones from the first Fazbear's location – slammed shut in Nightmare's face. He let out an angry roar, beginning to slam his fists against it. I could vaguely make out the sensation of my hands bruising within my gauntlets and winced – I really wished he wouldn't batter my body so much...

" _I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Mr. Redding. You managed to take me by surprise earlier with that little maneuver, but don't expect to be able to just waltz into my sanctorum unscathed. Ennard! Kill him."_ Afton's voice echoed through the hallways.

" **Bring it on, old man. Once I'm done tearing your tinkertoys apart, I'll shove them down your throat piece by jagged piece!"** Nightmare growled angrily, and I could feel his hands moving to my batons once more.

 _Listen to me! You're never going to get through that blast door, not this way._ I pleaded with Nightmare, a plan unfolding. _I survived four nights with murderous machines that had a lot more strength than flesh and bone has by using this model, and I doubt we'd be able to just wait out his power supply – he's not that stupid._

Nightmare growled again as he stalked back down the hallway, looking for Ennard. **"And what do you propose we do, then? Ask him nicely to come out and take his medicine?"**

 _I'm not that stupid either, you psychopath. We need Adams. This whole place is wired up to a mainframe, and if anyone can crack Afton's security it's him._ Nightmare growled again. _I want to take him down just as much as you do. He stole years off my life and left the two of us stuck together, and his creations took everything from me. But we're going to need some help._

Nightmare finally grumbled, before stalking back off towards the main area once more. **"I really hate it when you're right. Okay smart guy, where are we supposed to start looking? This place is pretty big, and I doubt he has much time left."**

My mind raced as I tried to think, before mentally snapping my fingers. _Start in Parts and Service. If they have an old Springlock suit, that'd be where they would keep it._ With a grunt, Nightmare took off at a run down the halls, sliding back through the broken window and heading towards the Service room.

As we entered into the dimly lit hallway, I could see a vague suit-like outline in the corner. _Over there!_ I called out, just as we heard a voice.

"Alex! Thank God it's you." There was the sound of some mechanical clicking and rattling, and we could see the suit moving and shifting. "These little monsters broke into the Control Module after you hit the Scooping Room. I fought off a handful of 'em, but there's a ridiculous amount. I think they're some kind of maintenance robots." More clicking and squirming. "They stuffed me into this suit and loosened the springlock controls. I've been able to hold them for this long, but it's turning into an uphill struggle. Get me out of this thing!"

Nightmare nodded, grumbling softly as he bent down to inspect the suit. _Let me have a look, I'm better at finesse than you are._ I could feel him reluctantly letting me have control of my hands again... Though it was all I could do to not cry out in pain as I felt the throbbing inside them. Something had to be broken.

" **Afton tried to gut me and use me like Golden's old biomechanical zombie-puppets. He's got this super-bot he's calling Ennard – says he's been feeding it all the data and records from my little adventures."** Adams swore as I started undoing the latches put on the suit, trying to help get him out of it. **"He's locked himself up in some kind of hidden office. Once I get you out of this, you need to try and hack into it, get it open."**

"My God... He wants to create a new Puppeteer. It's the only thing that makes-ALEX, WATCH OUT!" Adams shouted a warning, and Nightmare turned just in time for a pale, freakish-looking 'ballerina' that only stood about a foot tall to jump onto his face. He swore and growled as the little thing dug its claws in, and I could feel more cuts and slashes forming on my head as he tore it off and held it in both hands with a growl.

" **You little-!"** Without a word, he twisted his arms and tore what I assumed was one of the Mini-Reenas Afton mentioned in half. And that's when we realized there were a lot of them. I was worried immediately, but Nightmare had a very... Different attitude. **"Oh look. Popcorn."** With that, he waded into the horde. They attempted to outnumber him, hold him down and weigh him back with sheer numbers – probably the same trick they used on Adams.

Nightmare didn't play along. Instead, he threw himself against the wall back-first, smashing at least half a dozen of them. Driving his arms into the conveyor belt wrecked a few more, and from there he grinned. **"My turn."** With that, he went on a rampage. Boots came down and crushed Mini-Reenas, sending their parts and components flying. Fists pummeled and knocked limbs off, and he even twisted the head off of one and used it to knock another flying. He was grasping at whatever he could find; old shelves, boxes, spare parts and tools – everything was a weapon as he absolutely devastated the Mini-Reenas. A few took off, trying to run away, and were taken out by him using a length of extra cabling as a whip to knock them into a wall.

Finally it was over as he grasped the last Mini-Reena, and proceeded to systematically tear its legs, then arms, and finally head off. When he saw the head was still active, he dropped it before driving the heel of my boot into it, smashing it apart. **"Useless little pieces of scrap."**

Thankfully through all that, Adams' suit still hadn't gone off... But we could see the components beginning to quiver. The springs were about to give out. Immediately I started trying to figure out how to free the latches and get him out, but Nightmare just growled. **"Got no time for this..."** With that, he tore the material of the suit clear and threw the mask aside – just as the springs in it failed. If Adams had still been in that thing... He made good time tearing the rest of the suit off, the worn springlocks giving way one after another.

Finally, he let out a sigh of relief as he was freed. "Phew... Thanks, Alex. I thought I was screwed." He paused for a moment as he looked at Nightmare, tilting his head curiously. "Hey, are you okay? You look like you've taken a beating... And your eyes are all bloodshot."

Nightmare growled slightly. **"I'll be fine. Let's end this."** With that, he led the way back to the control module as I started to think. Did Adams see something? Was he able to tell that I wasn't 'me' at the moment...? Nightmare just shook his head a bit as we crawled through the hatch, and he let out a sigh of relief as he sat back into the computer chair.

"Well, now that the excitement has passed... You said Afton's holed up in some kind of safe room, huh?" He set to work, typing away at a keyboard. "Right, I see it. Dang..." He shook his head. "This thing's made of the same kind of reinforcement that the old Fazbear's Security Office was. It's built to take everything short of a bomb going off."

" **So can you get us in?"** Nightmare growled softly, clutching at my batons once more as he stared at the screen.

Adams typed away for a moment more before nodding. "I should be able to... But there's something else keeping me out." He glanced up and shook his head. "It's got to be that 'Ennard' thing you told me about. He's the last line of defense Afton has to offer."

Nightmare nodded. **"Nothing for it, then. I'll just have to smash him to pieces as well and finish this. Get into the Scooper's systems if you can, I think I have an idea on how to take him out."**

Adams hesitated, then nodded a little bit. "Alright. I can probably get the cameras up as well, I saw there's one in there. Radios won't work, but if I can gain access I can fire the Scooper off whenever you give me a signal to. Okay?"

Nightmare nodded, before starting to move towards the hatch... And Adams spoke again. "You gonna be okay, Alex?"

He sighed softly. **"I will be once Afton's taken care of."**

Mentally I shook my head once more as he headed towards the Scooping Room. _I really hope you know what you're doing..._

* * *

Next chapter's the endgame, folks. Alex/Nightmare vs Ennard.

Read and review!


	6. Chapter 5: Endgame

Well folks, here it is. The final full chapter of the Alex Redding series. I tried to make this grand showdown against Ennard a good one, tried taking it a bit longer and went a little further in depth with the actual showdown - I wanted it to feel like a true climactic battle.

It's been a long road to this point, folks. But here we go.

* * *

By the time Nightmare had arrived in the Scooping Room, Ennard was already standing there across from us. The camera blinked a few times and I could hear Afton's voice speaking up again. _"And so, here we are. A final showdown, between my greatest foe and his ultimate challenge. I must admit, I'm excited to see how Ennard will take to you, Mr. Redding..."_ This time, no laugh. No smug malevolence. I could at least take some solace in the fact that Afton was on the back foot now and likely starting to sweat a little bit.

" **Save it, old man. Once I tear your last little plaything apart, it's your turn. I'm excited to see how easy it is to tear an arm out of its socket."** Nightmare growled in my voice, sending a shiver down my spine. In fact, Ennard's bizarre clown-mask face was beginning to shift and distort, changing to resemble the silver-eyed, white-haired monster that was controlling him. It made sense, really – to Nightmare, Ennard WAS Afton. It was the last obstacle standing between him and his prey.

Slowly they circled each other, focused entirely on one another. I was already seeing the results of Afton's experiments. Ennard didn't have a bit of jerkiness to its motion, not a single bit of hesitation in its frame. Nightmare slipped one of my batons from its loop on my belt, and Ennard flicked a wrist and extended a matching item from underneath its wrist. It was like the calm before a duel as two gladiators felt each other out.

Nightmare's patience gave in first and he lunged forwards, taking a quick swing with my baton. Ennard dodged, coming in and making a swing at my leg that Nightmare blocked. Even though he was numbing me to the sensations, I could still feel the pain as that blow sent a reverberation through my arms. _He's strong. Fast, too – you're going to have to be careful._

Nightmare growled softly before coming in again, this time feinting an overhand strike into an electrically charged blow pointing towards Ennard's ribcage. The robot immediately dropped below the strike, rolling to the side and tripping me with a deft motion. In seconds he was on top of me, aiming to bring down a skull crushing blow... Which Nightmare countered with a quick strike to Ennard's forehead, sending it reeling back as he slid out and got back to his feet. Despite the impact, we were both now back up and staring each other down.

" **Your plaything's smarter than the others, Afton. Nice work."** He grinned maliciously. **"That means it'll feel so much better when I rip it apart."** With that, he took the offensive, stepping towards Ennard and starting to lay swing after swing into it. The robot blocked and parried, taking a quick chance to flick the baton to the side and drive its shoulder into my gut. Pain suppression or not, it took the wind out of Nightmare's sails and forced him to back off.

Now it was Ennard's turn, and it pressed that advantage as it came in with attack after attack. Nightmare was having to move quickly to block and counter them, but the damage that had been done to my body over the night had dulled his reactions. An impact hit my left arm, and Nightmare was forced to roll with it and drop just to keep the bone from shattering. He rolled out of the way, scrambling back to his feet... Just in time to block an overhead strike from Ennard that needed both hands on the baton to repel.

 _He's toying with you! This thing's been set up to know my every move, figure out everything I could do and counter it!_ I winced as Nightmare's reddish glow flared up around my vision again.

 _ **I KNOW!**_ He growled out mentally, teeth grit as he pushed against Ennard's weapon and forced the robot to stumble backwards. That was the opening he needed and he took advantage of it, charging in and starting to lay strike after strike. Those blows were strong enough to bend and warp the steel that made up its structure, and it gave Nightmare a quick boost as he came up with a solid kick to the robot's midsection that forced it to double over. A follow-up of the baton coming down hard on the back of Ennard's skull forced the robot to actually flip forward, ending up on his back. Nightmare raised a boot, prepared to crush Ennard's face in, but just as he came down Ennard grabbed the ankle and pulled to the side.

Next thing either Nightmare or I knew, we were staring at the ceiling of the Scooping Room again, and I could feel a particularly nasty welt forming on the back of my head. **"That was dirty..."** Nightmare shook it off, rolling to the side as Ennard tried once more to bash my skull in. As he scrambled back to his feet, I saw where the blow had landed. The concrete floor of the room had actually cracked and broken from the sheer force, and I groaned.

 _You can't match him in a straight fight!_ I cried out as Nighmare ducked a swing before setting his feet and football tackling Ennard up against the wall, ramming my damaged fists into its metal carriage. More dents formed on Ennard, more bruises and fractures in my hands. He growled and landed a kick on the knee joint of the robot, sending it collapsing sideways before grabbing hold of my baton again and getting ready to cave its skull in.

Ennard clearly wasn't done yet though, as it used its mechanical strength to turn the collapse into another roll just as Nightmare came down with the baton strike, leaving me bent over in the perfect position for it to land a nasty kick to my temple that sent Nightmare – with me in tow – to the ground. My head was absolutely throbbing and ringing now, and the reddish glow was shifting to a more gray one. I knew that Nightmare was knocked silly, so I had to move now – not just to take my body back, but to keep Ennard from finishing us both off.

I lunged mentally, knocking Nightmare aside and getting me in control just enough to act on pure instinct, hands coming up with my baton to block a shot Ennard was attempting to make at my midsection. And that's when the pain really hit me, and I yelled out in agony. Pure adrenaline was keeping me from giving way, though when I took a quick glance at that baton I could see a crack beginning to form in it. This was turning nasty.

I felt lightheaded and the side of my head Ennard had kicked was ringing out in a high tinnitus whine. I didn't even want to think of how many bruises and cracked bones I was forming at this point, but I was still somehow on my feet and facing down Ennard. To the robot's credit, it was still standing against me, tilting its head – as far as I could tell, it was trying to incorporate this new information.

 _ **MOVE!**_ Nightmare roared out in my head and I followed his instructions, moving forward and coming in with a baseball swing to Ennard's head that sent it sprawling out before coming down with a solid-booted stomp. I managed to land two heels onto it before it swept its own weapon under my knee, knocking me down once more. This time it straddled me, trying to give me nowhere to go as it reared up to attack.

Instead of blocking, I grabbed hold of its ankles and pulled back, sending it off balance and tumbling down just in time for me to get my knees up. The armored shins smacked hard against its head and neck, and it rolled off of me before stumbling a bit as it got up again. It was starting to show distinct wear as I saw faint sparks jumping and arcing within its frame, dents and broken pieces of metal falling off and clattering on the concrete as I saw the first faint wisps of smoke coming out of it.

To be fair, I wasn't in much better shape at this point. Everything hurt and ached in a deep way, and I was shocked that I was even on my feet as I stumbled a little bit. I could taste copper on my lips and knew that I was going to be coughing up blood again at this rate. I didn't have many options left; I had to stop this rampaging robot in its tracks. I pulled my second baton from me belt, and with a pain-inducing flick of the wrist extended it. Ennard tilted its head, and with a SNICKT sound a second one appeared from its other wrist. Great, this thing was trying to emulate me. It stood solid, waiting for me to make the first move.

I decided not to hesitate. I needed a quick, decisive few strikes to take Ennard out, and I needed them now. I came in and feinted an overhead strike with one baton, changing its target and bringing the heavy weighted head down onto Ennard's elbow joint while at the same time going for its knee socket. The trick worked – barely. Ennard was already staggered from the grinding sounds that were now coming from its elbow that it didn't quite manage to block my second blow and it went down on one knee. I followed that up with a rising knee to its chin that laid it out and aimed a quick boot for its head.

As soon as my heel was coming down to smash its skull, it grabbed my leg and forced it away, tripping me up once more and I landed with a painful THUD. As if to make matters worse I landed unevenly, my head and shoulders bouncing off one of the scrapped suit pieces that were littering the Scooping Room. I groaned, the blow knocking me off my balance and making me feel a bit lightheaded... And then I could make out that faint redness coming around the corners of my vision again. _Can't you see I'm busy?!_ I groaned out, trying to resist Nightmare's control as I stumbled and staggered back to my feet.

Just in time to take a shoulder charge from Ennard, knocking me back into the wall. This time blood DID fly out of my mouth as I coughed and hacked, shaking my head and groaning. _**I don't think you get to turn down my help.**_ Nightmare's voice sounded ragged, angry for sure but also just as beat down as I was. _**This Ennard thing's got us on the ropes.**_

I shook my head, bringing my batons around to block two strikes from Ennard. The blows sent vibrations down my arms that made me cry out in pain and I had to let go of one of the batons. I could feel the fractures and bruises in my arms getting even worse just by the impact of blocking them. Ennard reared back, looking to cave my skull in with another strike. I grit my teeth, pulling up whatever reserves of energy I had left. _Wanna help? Give me everything you've got left!_

I felt that redness build up again as I let out an inhuman roar, taking advantage of Ennard rearing back to grab it around the waist and charge forwards, carrying the rampaging robot across the Scooping Room and spearing it into the pile of suit pieces, I could hear metal scraping against metal, cables snapping, and smelled smoke intensifying as it smashed into that irregular, bumpy pile. I rolled off of Ennard, panting and gasping for breath as I tried to stumble back to my feet, glancing down to see what the damage was.

Ennard had not only smashed into that pile, but had gone straight through it. The robot was impaled on various suit components, with several jagged looking pieces of steel pushing straight through from back to front... Including what looked like Bon-Bon's entire torso wedging in between Ennard's metal ribcage. _**A hit like that would've snapped a normal human's spine. Nice one.**_ Nightmare sounded genuinely impressed with the brutality I had just inflicted. _**Now get your strength back and let's do an encore on Afton.**_

I shook my head slightly, still panting. _Stow it._ With that, I glanced up at the camera and gave it a thumbs up, hoping Adams saw the gesture and knew I was okay. The camera jittered a bit, gyrating and repeatedly moving from looking directly at me to looking behind me. I tilted my head, wondering what he was trying to do.

By the time I'd heard the sound of metal clattering, it was too late as I felt Ennard's arms wrapping around my own, catching me in a full-Nelson shoulder lock. My eyes widened as I glanced over my shoulder, seeing the crazed robot twitching and writhing as smoke and sparks were jumping out everywhere. "Oh for – what does it take to KILL YOU?!" I shouted out, struggling and trying to push it off of me to no avail. Frantically, I dug my heels in and tried to push it against the wall, tried to bludgeon it against something, but no luck. Ennard was too strong, and it had me right where it wanted me.

" _A marvelous performance indeed, Mr. Redding. You showed a lot more brutality than I really expected – and much more fight than would be thought, considering how this night is certainly beginning to wear on you,"_ Afton's voice rung out, laughing once more, _"However it appears that tonight's entertainment is at its end. I must commend you and your friend for coming disturbingly close. In fact, for a moment I thought you had managed to kill Ennard off! You are quite good at destroying mechanical foes, Mr. Redding. Then again, I would expect nothing less... This is why you would make such a perfect host for Ennard, after all."_

My eyes widened as I realized Ennard had just dragged me in front of the Scooper once more. This time, I didn't have anything left – no sudden burst of adrenaline and energy to bail me out. _Nightmare? You got any more tricks to pull?_ I called out mentally, hoping for some good news.

 _ **Not a thing. I'm spent – can't pull the same trick twice. Especially not from this position.**_ I swore mentally once more, shaking my head slightly as I went limp in Ennard's grasp.

" _Ah, so you've finally surrendered. Good – this will make the entire process easier. Again, Mr. Redding... I must inform you to take at least some solace that the pain will not last very long. And once it is over, you will provide an excellent new ally. The core of my next grand scheme."_ He laughed once more, before the camera faced me. _"Goodbye, Mr. Redding."_

I grit my teeth as the warning klaxons began to blare, the red light spinning. _Any pain suppressants, so this at least won't last?_

 _ **Nope. But if you have to feel this...**_ I felt that redness returning to my vision again. **_So will I. It's been... Interesting, Alex._**

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.

"ALEX, DUCK!" My mind raced – that was Adams' voice! I didn't even stop to hesitate, ducking my head down.

Just in time for a shower of sparks and hot metal to scatter against the exposed back of my neck, making me cringe. The sound of a heavy caliber pistol shot echoed through the Scooping Room, followed by a second one, and then a third and fourth. I glanced over, and saw Adams unloading his 1911 into Ennard's head. "LET GO OF HIM, YOU PSYCHOTIC PILE OF SPARE PARTS!" He roared angrily, coming towards Ennard in a berserker charge.

The robot removed one hand from my arms to push Adams back, and my eyes widened. _Nightmare...!_

 _ **No time to think. NOW!**_ He roared out, and I felt one last surge of strength filling me as I dropped my weight downwards.

Time seemed to slow. I saw the Scooper engage, the sharp-edged hydraulic scoop pushing towards me as I dropped my stature. I felt my shoulder pulling, dislocating as I shifted my weight forwards, grabbing onto Ennard's other arm as firmly as I could. Nightmare's strength giving me that last push, that last burst of energy I needed. Ennard's feet lifted off the ground, the robot flipping up over my shoulder as I tossed it... Straight onto the end of the Scooper, collapsing off to the side to get clear.

The blade smashed through Ennard's spine and internal components like they were made of cardboard, impaling the rampaging robot from back to front with a painful, enraged mechanical scream. Computer pieces and metallic fragments shot out the front, oil and assorted fluids gushing and flooding around the area. The Scooper arm retracted, leaving Ennard impaled on the end and crushing a few more fragments beyond any recognition. Twitching and smoking, the 'ultimate creation' of William Afton weakly reached one arm out towards me once more, before finally going limp and powering down for good.

Adams was quickly at my side, trying to help me up. "Alex... Alex! Are you okay?" He boosted me to my feet.

I let out a cry of pain as the dislocated shoulder was pulled on, shaking my head and stumbling a little bit. "Easy! That last stunt knocked that arm out!"

He nodded, wincing a bit as he helped me up. "Okay, okay... Just take it easy... Alright." Finally I was on my feet again, though I was standing a little staggered and uneasy. "Okay. You're upright again, and Ennard's taken care of." He glanced around, finding the window Nightmare had knocked out in his mad rush to chase after Afton. "Feeling good enough to end this?"

Wordlessly I nodded, staggering a bit as I climbed through the window. "Go get the lift down here, and get us ready for evac. I'll be back." He just nodded, heading back towards the control module.

 _ **I know that look in your eyes, Alex... You're thinking the same as I am, aren't you? You want Afton to die. Slowly and agonizingly, in more pain than any of the others did. You want to feed him to his own Scooper, force him into a Springlock suit, break him... Tear him apart!**_ I could hear Nightmare feeding that bloodlust, could tell that he wanted Afton to suffer.

 _Yeah, Nightmare. I'm thinking exactly that. I want Afton to pay for every death he's caused, and for him to suffer for it all._ I growled softly, stalking down that hallway.

 _ **Oohhh yes... I'm looking forward to this. I don't think I have any gas left for any more murderbots, but I'm eager to see what you've got planned for him.**_ He gleefully cackled in my mind as I was walking with a limp, rounding the corner just in time to see the doors to his safe room open.

Slowly he got to his feet, and I saw Afton as he was. An older man, for sure – wrinkled face, white hair, and silver-grey eyes that held a level of malice and hatred that was even beyond what I'd seen in Nightmare's own, while I was comatose. He was immaculately dressed in a white shirt, purple jacket and tie, and black slacks; if it wasn't for those eyes, I'd think of Afton as almost a grandfatherly type. "Well. So we finally meet, face to face..." He grumbled a bit, staring at me with a glare. If looks could kill, he'd have burned me to the wall.

Fortunately, a glare wasn't deadly. I, however, was. With my good arm, I grabbed hold of his tie and pulled him to face me. "I've been looking forward to this since I first heard your name, William Afton."

The malice seemed to fade, replaced by fear. "Well, here I am. So what are you going to do to me, Mr. Redding? Feed me to my own machines? Pummel me until I'm nothing but a red smear? Impale me on a pile of rusty steel?" He was defiant to the end, that much I could tell.

I just laughed in his face. "Impalement? Your own machines? My fists?" I shook my head. "Those are all too good for you, Afton. Do you realize how much pain you've caused people?" I growled lowly. "Do you realize how much pain you've caused **ME?!** " I could feel that hint of Nightmare hitting my voice, distorting it just that little bit. "I lost years of my life, Afton! **YEARS! All because of your creations!"** That distortion was getting intense now as I stared him down. **"And you think that I'm going to just** let you off that easily? With a quick but painful death?!" I pushed him against the wall and he impacted with a solid THUD, slinking to the ground.

"You took years of my life away, Afton. You took **years of my life** **away. You took the** woman I fell in love with away. Every death, every horrible thing, every murder... All **on your hands. And now you think I'll give you the dignity of a fast, or even a poetic death?!"** I grabbed his tie again, hauling him to his feet and staring into his eyes. **"No, Afton. I'm going to do the most painful thing I can to you, to make sure you suffer."** I took a breath. "I'm going to drag you out of here and in front of a courtroom."

He was silent for a moment. "...What?" For a moment, I saw a gleam in those eyes – a bit of hope, that I was doing him a mercy.

 _ **What?! You're not going to rip him apart, nice and slow?!**_ Nightmare was outraged. **_You're going to let him sit in a jail cell, getting three hots and a cot for the rest of his life?!_**

I grinned. "Because you see, Afton? I want it to be public. I want you to be dragged out for all to see. I want it to be hammered into your skull that it. Is. OVER. That the Fazbear curse, the nightmare you have subjected people to, is DEAD. I want it to become real to you – that you'll never see whatever malevolent plans you have left come to fruition, and that despite y our money, despite your brilliance, despite your cunning and underhanded ways... You. Still. Lost." I pulled his face up close to mine, giving him a wicked grin. A dead man's smile in a skull. "You'll be tried, convicted, and likely sentenced to death row. Executed in front of everyone that you've hurt so they can get the final victory."

I let out a short bark of a laugh. "Of course this is assuming you make it that long. Even among the worst criminals and lowlives of society, there's a code of honor. And you, Afton?" I grinned wickedly. "You attack kids. You hurt them, kill them, tear their innocence away. You'll be lucky if you last a year before a shiv is buried in your throat."

That gleam of hope had been replaced with terror now, as the magnitude of what I had condemned Afton to finally sank into the wicked old man. I shoved him against the wall once more, my good hand fishing into my pocket and pulling out my old, beat-up handcuffs. With a quick motion, I had him cuffed and was hauling him back down the halls, towards the lift out.

As soon as Afton and I reached the elevator, Adams took him and started going over the traditional police procedure – he was the only actual officer present, after all.

 _ **So that's why you didn't want me to tear him apart myself... You wanted it to be slower. More drawn out. And you wanted your hands clean.**_ Nightmare almost sounded introspective there... Or maybe impressed. I wasn't really able to tell.

I laughed mentally, shrugging a bit. _Maybe so. Maybe sometimes, the just and righteous path is actually the most cruel and painful of them all._

Nightmare made a soft **_Hmm_** sound in my head, and then went quiet. There was no noise left in the elevator – no voices either inside my head or outside... Nothing. Just the faint hum of the machinery running.

I closed my eyes, leaning against the wall. Right now, the silence was perfectly fine to me.

* * *

And there it is. The last full chapter of Alex Redding's adventures is in the books. All that's left from here is an epilogue, which I should have up in another few days.

Read and review!


	7. Epilogue: Some Other Beginning's End

Well folks... Here it is. The grand finale of Alex Redding's adventures. That's right - after this, Redding is hanging his batons and armor up for good and I'll quite likely be bowing out of the Five Nights at Freddy's scene barring some massive new development.

It's been one heck of a ride. This series was how I broke into writing, and how I gained the confidence to actually stop talking and start doing. It got me started, and gave me longtime followers that I never thought I'd have. But... Everything has to come to an end eventually, and it's time for Alex's adventures to conclude.

This chapter may feel like it went a little fast. Truth be told I had a lot to hit on, but I didn't want to divide it up into two updates. I hope at least I provided a happy and conclusive ending to it all.

* * *

Considering the amount of adrenaline I was pushing through that night, the aftermath really wasn't that bad. I'd found myself back in the hospital within the first hour after Adams and I came out of the lift with Afton in custody, getting my many injuries and wounds patched once more. At least this time I was conscious while it happened, though when it came time to take care of my arm I wished I wasn't.

The worst part of all of it came a little while later, when the doctors were examining yet another set of x-rays. They told me flat to my face that if I got myself neck deep in fighting like that again I would end up crippled; apparently those last few impacts I'd taken had severely messed my spine up. Top it off with the fact that I'd dislocated my shoulder in about the worst possible way, and it was clear that my career of busting up rampaging robotics was at its end. In fact, they told me that for at least a few weeks after being released from the hospital I was to use a cane and try to stay off my feet.

This was easier said than done, considering the trial for William Afton had just taken the forefront of not just the local papers but national news; turns out you can't have this many incidents in such a small area without the suits from DC deciding to take an interest. They wanted to interview me, Adams, everyone they could find. Just the process of supplying them with all the information and evidence I could get sapped what little time I had before the trial began in earnest. Thankfully through the whole process, Nightmare kept his mouth shut – in fact, I hadn't heard from him since I left the Sister Location behind.

The trial itself had hit more than a few snags as well; turns out the wheels of justice had come to a complete grinding halt thanks to two factors. First off, Afton still needed a lawyer. The ones Fazbear Entertainment kept on retainer had either been disbarred or wanted nothing to do with the company or anyone related to it anymore, his assets had been frozen so he couldn't hire one even if any would agree to it, and none of the court appointed ones would do it in good conscience. This was combined with the nightmare search for a jury that would have even the slightest chance of not passing a guilty vote before the trial even started out. To say that it was a media circus was an understatement as the national news networks were providing 24/7 coverage of the trial and everything surrounding it.

Finally a jury was selected, which was a stroke of luck. A larger stroke of luck hit a bit later, when a court lawyer that was approaching retirement agreed to take on the trial. From what I'd heard, he only had agreed to take it on and do his job properly in exchange for a healthy boost to his pension. I made a mental note to buy him a drink sometime, and the trial commenced.

Funnily enough, despite the absolute chaotic nightmare that had been trying to get everything ready and sorted, the trial itself went about as by the books as you could expect. Afton's lawyer was trying to play things around an angle of an insanity plea – something that would protect him from death row. To my great annoyance, I was told that I'd have to testify as a key witness in the trial.

This had always been my least favorite part of the job, even while I was on the police force. I worked better out in the field, doing my job – once things hit the courtroom everything had double and triple meanings and it drove me up a wall just dealing with it. I was sworn in, and the questioning began. Mostly simple stuff, asking me what I'd seen in all of the Fazbear related incidents and how they may or may not have related to or been known by Afton. I didn't sweat them too much; there was a mountain of paperwork and testimony that said Afton knew full well what robots like Golden Freddy, the Marionette, the RAT that had ended up in Candy's possession, and the others were capable of. A few questions were aimed towards discrediting me – my actions about Fazbear's Fright, the questionable death of Damien Mitchell at the 'rebooted' Fazbear's location by the hands of his own broken down animatronics and suits, my personal history and connection with the company. I was able to keep my head on straight, though; this wasn't my first time being raked over the coals.

The final question for the defense had come up. "Mr. Redding. You've had a large amount of firsthand experience with Fazbear Entertainment and their illegal activities, yes?" I nodded. "And you've had a lot of experience with criminals – some of whom have committed unspeakable atrocities. Correct?" I nodded again, knowing where this was going. "Mr. Redding, I have seen a great many things in my time. None of them even compare to the horrible actions taken by Fazbear Entertainment, put into place and endorsed by the lead designer, Mr. Afton. It is difficult for me to believe that these are the actions of a rational and sane individual... So please, enlighten the court. Do you believe William Afton is fit to stand trial?"

I saw those silver-grey eyes looking up, boring into my own as I took a slow breath. "Your honor, I have indeed had experience with the worst humanity has to offer. During my time as the leader of the SWAT team, I had the misfortune to stumble across cults that revolved around the abuse and murder of innocent children." I shook my head. "I have seen these people firsthand – they were not mentally capable or well. They believed that innocent blood would empower them to be gods among men." I met Afton's stare with my own cold, even tempered one. "William Afton did not commit these things in search of power beyond mortal means. He could not have engineered the deadly alternate purposes for the Fazbear Entertainment animatronics without clarity of mind. And he could not have nearly succeeded in killing both myself and police Chief Joseph Adams if he was acting based on the whims of an ailing mind."

I softly cleared my throat. "No, your honor. William Afton is not a madman, or criminally insane. The only word I can think of to accurately describe him is evil."

The rest of the proceedings seemed like so much wasted time after that. The court didn't need me any more so I went home and tried to ignore that any of it was happening. My focus was turned to other concerns while the trial was occurring.

My first priority was getting myself back to being okay. I had started going to a psychiatrist after being released from the hospital. I knew that Nightmare was a personality fragment I would have to deal with again sometime, and I wanted my own mind to be as clear and as strong as possible for it. I was diagnosed with a particularly severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and made it a routine to visit at least once a week. This was key to me – I needed to fix myself up, especially since I was now officially out of the game.

My second priority came about a week or so after the final showdown, when I'd gotten a phone call. The Toy Band had found some designs for new, humanoid endoskeletons – moreover, they were compatible with the backups of the original crew. This news probably didn't do much to help my recovery, since I was spending all of my time either at home, in therapy both mental and physical, or at the laboratory where they were currently working to restore the band. It was a long, slow, tedious process – during which I'd been in charge of helping design new bodies for the entire crew. I'd opted for more humanoid designs, scrapping the more cartoonish aspects of the original band and trying to make it easier for them to re-adapt to everything.

Between all of this, I'd lost track of the trial after my testimony had been given so it was a shock to me when I got a phone call from Adams – apparently the jury had only been in deliberation for minutes before handing down a verdict. William Afton was found guilty of far more occurrences of murder in the first degree – including of children – than it was worth telling. It had taken just as little time to come out with a sentence that both they and the judge agreed on. He was sentenced to Death Row.

That evening I'd found Adams and the two of us had more than a few drinks together, celebrating the end of the nightmare that had been haunting us ever since the first time I took on the night shift at Fazbear's. It was the first time we'd been able to do something like that since Fazbear Entertainment and Golden Mile had burned to the ground just trying to pay off the lawsuits that they'd been hit with.

Two weeks later, I got another phone call just before I was about to head for therapy. "Hello?"

Adams' voice came over the line. "Alex, it's me. Been paying any attention to the news?"

I shook my head. "You know I don't keep track unless it's important. I'm about to go see my shrink, what's going on?"

I could hear a barely suppressed laugh on his end of the line. "Afton was beaten to death in prison earlier today... Well, to say he was 'beaten to death' was an understatement. There was almost nothing left of the guy."

I blinked for a moment, before laughing softly to myself as I leaned against the wall. "I figured he wouldn't make it to his execution. Any idea who did him in?"

He paused for a moment. "Officially they're still investigating. Unofficially, it sounds like one of the guys he was locked up with lost his family during the Drone Incident. He joined up with one of those crazy anti-AI groups, smashed up one of the research labs pretty bad, and was treated as a domestic terrorist for it. He heard who Afton was, and I guess they're saying he organized a mob to deal out some justice."

I laughed once more, shaking my head. "Remind me to send this guy a letter. Couldn't have happened to a better scumbag, right?"

Adams nodded and I could hear the smile in his voice. "Alex, you know what that means. It's finally, completely over. Fazbear Entertainment is done."

I nodded. "Yeah... It's finally finished. Bet Faz will be thrilled to hear about this – give him a call. I gotta get going before I'm late for my appointment."

We said goodbye, and I headed off. Therapy that day was incredibly positive, much to the curiosity of my shrink. I just told her I'd heard some news that an old friend would appreciate, and we moved on through the session. As I drove home afterwards, I smiled to myself. _Afton's gone, Golden's gone, Nightmare hasn't bothered me for ages now..._ I grinned, turning the music up and heading for the labs. _Just one final missing piece and this nightmare is over._

Two Weeks Later...

I'd gotten the call to come by the lab ASAP today, and I immediately knew what it was all about. I had just been in the middle of working on a few new hobbies I'd picked up to fill the time, and bolted from my house straight over there. As soon as I arrived, one of the researchers escorted me into the back – the same back room that I'd been coming to at least once a week now for a good several months. "They're finally ready, Mr. Redding." That had been all I needed to hear. "All we need is for you to sign off on the transfer, and we'll begin the process of re-uploading the band to their new bodies."

Turns out all that time and research into AI and robotics had paid off. Even though the actual endoskeletons had been built around the recovered Golden Mile units, the 'suits' had been permanently grafted to them. And to call them suits was an understatement as well; they might as well have been humans at this point. There were some distinct differences, that much was for sure; for one, they felt a bit less warm than actual human flesh and blood, and most humans didn't bleed an off-blue liquid.

Freddy was the first in the line. A male brunette with brown eyes and a strong but soft build, it was clear they'd taken the inspiration I'd given them for the designs seriously. Bonnie was next up; long purple hair tied back into a ponytail, lavender hued eyes to go with it. Chica was the third of the humanized band, with a bob cut golden blonde hairdo and eyes that were shining the same color. Finally, Foxy... My Foxy. She was a redhead, obviously enough, with hair that went down to her upper back and a matching set of glowing eyes. She also had longer, sharper than normal canines – something I'd initially added as a modification for her old suit for combat had turned into a personality trait.

Toy Freddy – now known as just 'Fred' – thumped up to my side. "Incredible work, isn't it?" He chuckled, resting a hand on my shoulder. "With the amount of development that we were able to do since first coming here, they're one of a kind. The first synthetic humans." He paused for a moment. "...Of course, being the first won't be the easiest thing in the world – there's a lot that we'll want to monitor, and you'll need to bring them by every so often for diagnostics and maintenance." He paused for a moment. "You're sure you don't want us to outfit them with at least having a defensive mode? I know you're not capable of fighting anymore, after all."

I shook my head. "Fred, these four have been fighting ever since they gained sentience. I don't want them to even have to think about combat anymore. There's been too much pain and suffering that we've all dealt with, it's time that we got our peace."

He nodded once more. "Very well. If you change your mind, feel free to let us know anytime." With that, he glanced to a technician. "Commence the upload." A few keyboard commands later, and I saw several monitors and systems surrounding the band lighting up, and a progress bar showing onscreen above them all.

I was waiting with bated breath as I watched the bars scrolling across. The entire crew had reassured me many times that this was the easiest part of the process, and that nothing would go wrong, but still... These were my friends, and I'd gone through a ridiculous amount of abuse to get them back. I didn't want anything to go wrong at the last minute. The progress bar seemed to be absolutely crawling, and I was showing my impatience as I shifted back and forth, tapping my cane on the ground.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the bars stopped scrolling and the researcher spoke up. "Upload complete. No issues reported."

I let out a breath that I didn't even realize I was holding, and nodded as Fred spoke up. "Wake them up, and let's give them some privacy." With that, the two of them left the room and I slowly looked over them all, anticipating which one would be the first to come to.

I saw Freddy twitch, his eyes moving slightly, and blinking. "...Freddy? You awake?" I spoke up, hopeful.

With a groan, he slowly nodded, grumbling a bit. "Alex, you've gotta give a bear some kind of warning before ya wake him like that..." He blinked for a moment after that. "...Wait a minute... Something feels weird." He stood on his own feet, looking himself over. "What in the..." He then glanced up to me and cringed. "Alex? What happened to you?" My heart soared at that. Freddy was alive! And if he was back, that meant –

"Yeah, Alex. You look like you've been hit by a truck, and you're pale... As... A..." Bonnie's voice came up as she slowly stumbled and staggered a bit, having to lean a bit more on the platform she had been resting on. "Freddy...? Is that you?"

"Y-yeah, it's me... Just as confused as you are, though. Alex? What's going on?" Freddy looked me square in the eye, and I opened my mouth to explain.

Just as we heard a squeal of surprise, turning quickly. Chica had rolled herself off the platform and faceplanted on the ground. "Great start, Cheeks..." I shook my head a bit and sighed as we all moved over to her side, helping her back up.

Immediately she was off like a shot. "Alex! What happened to you? Why are you so bruised up and scarred? And why do I feel so funny?" She turned to the others. "Oh, new friends! Wait, hang on... They look familiar. Freddy? Bonnie?" She looked down at herself at that point and squealed. "What happened to us?!"

At this point, they were clustering around me so I sighed and shook my head. "Long story, guys... Short version?" I laughed softly to myself. "You all got pretty beat to crap. How much do any of you remember?"

Chica hesitated. "...I remember opening the restaurant up early, because I knew you were all coming over... Then just a blur... Wait..." Her eyes widened. "There was a spark, I smelled gas..." She looked at me. "...I died, didn't I?"

Freddy and Bonnie winced a bit, their own memories of how they'd met their own untimely demises coming back to them before exchanging a look. "Well, judging by the fact that we're all standing here talking, I'm assuming Alex saved us. Yet again." Freddy chuckled softly, resting a hand on my bad shoulder. I winced and ducked a bit, making him frown. "Alex? Are you alright, my boy?"

I just nodded a bit. "Yeah, I'll... Look, I'll fill you guys in later. Okay?" I turned, expecting to see Foxy standing up and looking at me.

Nothing. She was laying there, still as a statue. My heart immediately dropped to the bottom of my shoes. The others stepped back for a moment, exchanging a look as I approached her platform. "Foxy?" I slowly moved to her side, resting a hand on her side and nudging her. "Hey, c'mon. This isn't funny... You awake?" She didn't respond, and I could feel my heart shattering once more. The others were all awake now, so why wasn't she? Did something go wrong in the transfer? Was her backup corrupted by how violent her death had been? "Come on, Foxy... Please wake up..." Tears were beginning to well up in my eyes as I leaned closer to her, going almost nose to nose. To have come this far, and to not have gotten her back...

And then I felt a hand on the back of my head. Warm lips pressed against mine, and I saw the brief glint of crimson eyes glowing with mischief and love. My own eyes flew open as I gasped, before feeling like I was suddenly light as a feather. Foxy was alive! And she was currently kissing me as hard as she possibly could. I didn't try to pull back or avoid it, just embracing her and pulling her to sit up, holding her close to me.

Eventually the kiss broke, and she laughed softly. "Heard you starting to talk to the others... I couldn't resist playing that little joke, though." She giggled. "Sleeping Beauty ain't got nothing on me."

I nodded, hugging her close once again. "You got that right, Fox'."

Explaining what had exactly happened to them gave plenty of time for the research crew to finish congratulating themselves and start gathering the items they'd prepared – clothes beyond the medical robes they were all wearing, for starters. By the time I was done retelling the story, they were re-dressed and looking at me in shock.

Foxy was the first person to move, wrapping her arms around me in a gentle hug. One by one, the others all came in as well, embracing me and hugging me. "Alex... You nearly got yourself killed several times over for us. Thank you." Freddy looked at me with pride.

"Indeed, it seems our good friend Alex has made everything right once again." That older voice could only belong to one man, and I turned to see Faz walking in with a smile. I stared at him with shock, a grin on my face. "What? Did you think I would miss seeing my family all together again?" He chuckled softly, coming over and shaking my hand firmly. "Alex, I am indebted to you. William Afton is no more, the dark shadow of Fazbear Entertainment has dissipated, and we are all able to breathe happily once more."

I just nodded, giving him a firm hug. "It was my pleasure." With that, I looked around at the others, before hesitating. "Oh, Freddy. There's one other thing that I wanted to get to you..." He turned, tilting his head curiously as I grabbed one of the boxes that the team had brought out, handing it over to him.

He paused, opening it up... And stopped, staring at it before grinning at me and pulling a well-worn, beat up and scarred top hat out, placing it on his head. "Okay, NOW everything is as it should be." He laughed softly, patting me on the back.

I just chuckled, hugging Foxy close. "Alright guys, let's head for home." As we filed out, I could hear music playing from the speakers inside the labs. I hummed along with the tune, smirking to myself.

Foxy tilted her head a bit, seeing that look on my face. "Alright, what are you thinking?"

"This song... It's called Closing Time. I really get the feeling it's not just coincidence it's playing right now." I glanced over, and saw Toy Bonnie giving me a thumbs-up and waving. I returned the wave as we headed out the door.

 _Closing Time... Time for you to go out to the places you will be from..._

I chuckled as we headed out to the car, piling in. Foxy grinned at everyone. "Shotgun!" This got a groan from Freddy, and a laugh from the others.

 _Closing Time... This room won't be open 'til your brothers or your sisters come..._

I chuckled as I climbed in, starting the car and getting ready to pull out of the parking lot, before glancing up. The sun was setting, and I let out a pleasant sigh.

 _So gather up your jackets, move it to the exit... I hope you have found a friend..._

Foxy glanced at me. "Alright, spill the beans. What is it about that song that made you think it wasn't coincidence?" She smirked.

I just chuckled. "The last line of the song. Considering all the crap we've all been through, and that it's finally actually over? I think it's an appropriate one."

She grinned even more, planting a kiss on my cheek. "Alright, spill the beans. How does it go?"

I just cleared my throat as I dropped the car into gear, starting to head down the road towards home. Truth was, it was one of those songs I never thought of until I heard it, but whenever I did it was stuck in my head. And in this particular situation, it was appropriate.

" _Closing Time... Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end_." I smiled at the others. My friends, my family. The beginning of this long road had been years ago now, back in a broken down pizza restaurant on its way out known as Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. There had been upsides and downsides, good and bad. I'd fought, I'd bled, I'd suffered. But now, as I had a car full of old friends that were already starting to fall back into the old patterns that we knew and loved?

I smiled to myself. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 _Closing Time... Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..._

* * *

That song just seemed appropriate. It's an end of a chapter in my writing life, and the beginning of something new. I have more than a few pending projects, including getting back to _Linking The Future_.

For now, though? That's a wrap. Last one out, lock the doors and kill the lights. Thank you all for coming with me on this journey, and I hope you tune in for my future endeavors.

See you further on up the road. o7


End file.
